A Family Alone – Chapter 1 – Monthly Shopping Trip

“I’ll help you unload the car,” Tom told April.

“I have to divide the packages of meat and seal them in vacuum bags.”

“Do you need help?”

“Not really Tom. When did they say the generator would be here?”

“3-4 weeks. It comes directly from the factory. “

“Where are you putting it?”

“Next to the house near the main distribution panel. I can run a gas pipe from the LP
tank to power it.”

“I thought you were going to order the 15kw unit.”

“I was, but it’s twice the price of the 12kw unit and the 12kw unit puts out almost 100
amps. You only got your wish because there was a long backorder on the RS12000. I’d
rather spend the money on extra food. How are we coming anyway? Will this batch fill
the freezer?”

“Completely and the freezers in the refrigerators too. I feel a little foolish storing so
much food. I hope we don’t have a power outage before the new generator gets here
and you get it installed.”

“We can always power the refrigerators and freezer with my portable generator. I’m go-
ing to permanently install it in the pickup and connect it to the gas tank when I get back.
With the 35 gallon tank and the 98-gallon cross-bed tank, I can keep everything frozen
for quite a while.”

“Still, I feel better when we have the standby installed.”

“Tired of the power outages? I don’t believe that there really is a power shortage. I think
it’s those companies manipulating the available power. To hell with them! The Governor
isn’t helping anything either, he’s going to bankrupt the state. Do you want to go with me
when I go to Reno tomorrow?”

“I don’t think so. What you’re going to do is illegal, Tom. Are you totally certain that
those guns are off the books? What’s going to happen if they search your pick up when
you come back across the border into California?”

“They won’t find a thing, April. Are you positive that you don’t want a M1A? They’re
about the same price as the AR you told me to get you.”

1
“I want something I can handle. You’ve got 6” and 60 pounds on me. No, the gas piston
AR will be fine. Can you put an Aimpoint sight on it?”

“Whatever you want, sure. I might put one on the M1A too; it depends on what’s availa-
ble. I set up the portable generator in case the lights go out while I’m gone. You have
several hours of run time in the tank. Just shut it down and refill it if the outage lasts
more than 7 hours. I’m going to store the extra batteries in the spare refrigerator, is that
ok with you?”

“Sure, I’m only using the freezer compartment anyway. How long do you think you’ll be
gone?”

“Not that long, I’ll take 120 to 395 and take it to Reno. He said he’d be waiting for me so
it will just be up and back. I should be home for supper.”

“Just be careful, you don’t want to get caught with an AR-15 or the M1A. Even the high
capacity magazines would land you in jail. I’ll run back to Fresno tomorrow and get the
ammo. How much do you want?”

“Five cases of the 7.62×51mm surplus and 5 cases of the 5.56×45mm. 5,000 rounds for
each rifle should let us get in some practice and have enough if there’s trouble. You can
leave it in your trunk and I’ll unload it when I get home.”

“Do you think we’re going to have trouble, really? I don’t have any trouble with the extra
food and the standby power, Lord knows we get snowed in often enough and the power
is off enough to justify being prepared. But the idea of needing to protect ourselves with
firearms pushes the limit a little. Don’t you agree?”

“Let’s say that I believe in being prepared, April. We still don’t know for sure what is go-
ing to happen on New Year’s. They may say that they’re prepared, but why did they
have to wait until this late to prepare for the Millennium? I’d better call the propane
company and have them top off the tank. I’ll have Chevron top off the gas tank while I’m
at it. Do you need to get anything else while you’re in Fresno tomorrow?”

“I’ll know better after I have everything put away. Why don’t you pack the bulk food in
the 6 gallon pails while I finish up packaging the meat?”

“Sure, do we have enough oxygen absorbers?”

“There’s a new box on the shelf and more plastic bags too. I might stop by that restau-
rant supply tomorrow and pick up some of those large strapped loaf pans they have for
the 24 ounce loaves of bread. Should I get one or two? Each one makes 3 loaves.”

“Better get two, April. Look for a used commercial bread slicer while you’re at it. I’ll get
going on packing the beans, rice and wheat. Holler if you need any help.”

2
Tom and April Henson lived north of Fresno in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada’s. They
were young, in their 30’s, and didn’t have any children. Tom had put in 12 years in the
Army but had gotten out with a minor disability. It wasn’t enough to keep him from work-
ing, but it was enough to preclude him staying in. April and he had married out of high
school, in Fresno in 1986. It was only later that they learned that they couldn’t have any
children. They had talked about adopting, but it was difficult to do. They had taken ad-
vantage of an insurance settlement, when April’s parents had died, to buy the acreage
with the old house. They were about 5 miles from their nearest neighbor and near the
end of the road.

Over the past summer, they found out why they got the property as cheaply as they did.
Every time they turned around, they lost power. Tom had been looking for a job for
months without any success. April sold Watkins products and had put up a website. Her
business had really taken off and while they weren’t getting rich, they were getting by
comfortably. Tom had given up looking and contented himself to package the orders
and deliver them to the nearest UPS office. They had converted an outbuilding into a
storage facility for April’s inventory. April contended that with her business growing as
fast as it was, Tom had a full time job just helping her.

Tom had been in the infantry in the Army, a Sergeant First Class. He’d gotten through
Desert Storm without a scratch, but had been injured in a HMMWV accident. His right
knee was a mess and even after surgery, he had a slight limp. He had been in physical
therapy trying to get his knee up to full strength. His physical therapist had told him the
previous week that they had done about as much as they could. He should continue his
exercises, at home, but there was no further need for him to drive to Fresno for the ses-
sions. His military disability pay was 25% of his regular pay since each limb was worth
25%.

He had an old Army buddy who sold guns in Reno. He’d talked to his friend and the
friend told him that he’d sell him the weapons. They weren’t class III firearms, only semi-
autos, but you couldn’t get anything exactly like them in California. He had new and
good used weapons that Tom could choose from. He guaranteed everything he sold
new and used.

Early the next morning, Tom left for Reno. It took him about 5 hours to get there and by
11am, he was back on the road heading home. Meanwhile, April had driven into Fresno,
filled in the things they missed the day before at Costco and had made several other
purchases. April had a Colt Commander pistol and Tom the full sized M1911. While she
was at the gun store, she picked up the .45ACP ammo, 2,000 rounds. It was the 230 gr.
Speer Gold Dot ammo. That rounded out their ammo supplies. They had special or-
dered the pistol ammo because the dealer didn’t usually have 2 cases on hand. She
had also picked up the rolls of silver coins from the coin dealer. They now had 10 rolls
each of silver halves, quarters and dimes.

3
When she got home, April left the ammo in her car and got on her computer to print out
the orders they’d gotten over the weekend. It took her most of the day to box up the or-
ders and she’d call UPS to pick them up this time. Her shipping and handling charges
would cover the shipping costs either way, but having Tom deliver the packages to UPS
gave them a slightly lower shipping rate, and was a small source of revenue. Over the
course of a year, it did make a difference.

Tom was home by 4pm. He unloaded her car and put the ammo away. He had picked
up good used weapons and both were equipped with the Aimpoint sights. He hadn’t had
any trouble crossing back into California because of his California plates. It was sup-
posed to be Agricultural inspection anyway, not the Gestapo, although sometimes he
wondered.

“Did you have any trouble?”

“Not coming home I didn’t. The problem was in Reno. Dave must have misunderstood
me; I was specific what I wanted. He had a gas piston M16A3 for you and a M1A Super
March for me. Same price, too. I picked up the magazines, 13 for you and 21 for me. I
also picked up a 10 pack of Colt 7-rounders for our pistols.”

“I guess we’re ready for the invasion, huh?” April laughed. “Did you buy anything else?”

“Well, he did have Saiga shotguns and the 12-round magazines. I got you a 20-gauge
and a 12-gauge for me.”

“I wish I’d have known and I could have picked up some of the shotgun ammo.”

“No need, he had it and I bought enough to last us for a while. UPS is here, I help him
load the boxes.”

“I didn’t know if you’d be in home in time so I called them to make the pickup.”

“That’s fine, April. What’s for supper?”

“I left out a package of ground beef, is meatloaf ok?”

“Baked potatoes?”

“Yes and fresh asparagus.”

“Sure, you go ahead and start dinner and I’ll help him load.”

4
As we all know, the fear that gripped the nation prior to the Millennium didn’t come to
pass in any meaningful way. To be sure, some companies had problems, but it wasn’t
the end of the world like they were predicting. Eventually, the new Onan RS15000 gen-
erator was delivered and Tom got an electrician to install the 100-amp automatic trans-
fer switch. He ran 20’ of the black gas pipe from their LP tank and connected it to the
generator using a short length of the flexible high-pressure line. The other end was simi-
larly connected to the LP tank with a flex line. Their above ground gasoline storage tank
held 500 gallons of gasoline and their above ground LP tank held 3,000-gallons of pro-
pane, net.

Tom and April had purchased a 60’ section of corrugated 10’ culvert and had built their
own storm shelter. They had excavated a hole and hired a crane to set the culvert into
the hole. Tom had spent a couple of months welding on the ⅜” end caps and working
on the inside. Beneath the floor were deep cycle batteries storing thousands of amp
hours of electricity. He had a heavy-duty inverter to power the electric hot plate but the
remainder of the shelter was all a 12-volt electrical system. It wasn’t fancy, but it
achieved their goal.

In that part of the US, they didn’t get tornadoes, just earthquakes. To the west was the
San Andreas Fault and not that far away (~50 air miles) were Mammoth and the Long
Valley Caldera. Tom and April lived near Hildreth. Earthquake activity within and adja-
cent to the caldera had remained low since mid-1999 averaging just five to 10 earth-
quakes per day with magnitudes less than M 2 and an occasional event as large as M
3. They didn’t feel most of the earthquakes. However, considering their location, they
both thought the shelter was a good idea.

Their life was rather routine handling the Watkins orders and keeping themselves pre-
pared for whatever might happen. They still got snowed in over the course of the winter
of 1999-2000. They also lost power a few times when ice pulled down the electrical
lines. It didn’t matter, the standby generator kicked in and they didn’t have any problems
other than an occasional problem getting the orders to UPS. During the summer of
2000, Dave called Tom and told him that he had made a large purchase of similar
weapons Tom had bought the last time. He could give Tom a very good price on the
weapons and surplus ammo. When the weather cleared, April and Tom both went to
Reno. They spent a couple of days gambling and came home with more weapons,
magazines and ammo. The rifles were an M1A Super Match and another M16A3 gas
piston conversion. They added a pair of Browning Hi-Powers.

They came home with the rifles plus the same magazine assortment, just twice as
many. The weapons were free because April had hit a $1 slot at just the right time. The
casino withheld on the winnings and they still had a fair amount of money after they’d
made the purchase from Dave. They went into Fresno to the coin dealer and acquired
gold and silver Eagles. Gold had hit $272 in London and the remainder of April’s win-
nings went into coins. With the dealer’s markup, the final price of gold was $299 an
ounce. While the Eagles are only 22 carat gold, they contain 1 full troy ounce of pure

5
(24 carat) gold. The silver Eagles had a spot market ratio of 62:1 with gold and cost
them $5 an ounce.

6
 A Family Alone – Chapter 2 – Summer Gardening

Tom and April wintered over 2000-2001 and were kept moderately busy with their Wat-
kins orders. They didn’t grow much in their garden, potatoes, squash, watermelon and
one tomato and one pepper plant. They had the means to can, but it wasn’t worth the
time and effort. By the time you bought jars, lids and counted your time, it was less ex-
pensive to buy food at Costco. However, every weekend, weather permitting, they went
to Fresno and shopped the garage sales. In the interval since they’d moved to the Hil-
dreth area, they had accumulated hundreds, if not thousands, of jars all carefully boxed
and stored against a future need. There were several cases of lids, some with and
some without rings.

Tom bought 2 30 quart All American pressure canners from Canning Pantry in Utah.
The Canning Pantry wasn’t the cheapest when it came to the canning lids however.
They also bought a hose and regulator separately for a used propane stove. The ad-
vantage to the larger pressure cooker was that it would do 14 quarts or 19 pints. While it
was more expensive, over the long haul, they could make up the cost with saved pro-
pane. Assuming they ever had to can.

“Why don’t we put in several tomato plants this year and can our own spaghetti sauce? I
don’t much care for the stuff they have in the stores.”

“Ok, how many plants do you want?”

“The recipe I have for Spaghetti sauce requires 30 pounds of tomatoes. Maybe you
should ask the nursery how many plum tomato plants it would take to produce 30
pounds of tomatoes at a time.”

“How much sauce does that make?”

“About 9 pints, according to the recipe.”

“So you’re going to need over 100 pounds of tomatoes to make 14 quarts of sauce. I’ll
inquire. We need to get one of those extractors while we’re at it. It was Canning Pantry,
I’ll order one.”

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup chopped onions
1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
2 tbls. oregano
4 tbls. fresh parsley, minced
2 tsp. black pepper
4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup brown sugar

7
1/4 cup vegetable oil
30 pounds tomatoes

“He told me just to plant a dozen plants and see how we came out.”

“That’s fine; we don’t want to go overboard. We can do pint jars of tomato sauce plus
several batches of green beans in quart jars. We can fill up the shelves for very little
work.”

“I agree. I don’t think we want to plant any more sweet corn than it would take to have 3
or 4 batches of corn on the cob, do you?”

“No, 3 or 4 times is probably plenty. With just the 2 of us, it’s cheaper to buy vegetables
than can most of the time. I think we can stop buying jars. Otherwise you’re going to
have to build a bigger shed.”

“There go the lights again. Dammit, I don’t understand why we keep having power out-
ages.”

“The paper said that there is an energy shortage and the Governor is between a rock
and a hard spot.”

During the summer of 2001, April handled the Watkins orders and Tom tended to the
garden and did the canning. When she wasn’t busy, she helped him snap beans, juice
the tomatoes and whatever. Tom acquired used office storage cabinets to store their
food. These all went into the basement and the cabinets were attached to the walls so
they wouldn’t tip over. In the space above the cabinets he stored their paper products.
He was done with canning when the first of September rolled around. The onions had
been harvested and were drying. The only crop left to bring in was the potato crop.

On the morning of 9/11/01, April was boxing orders and Tom was sitting at the kitchen
table reading the paper. The radio was on in the background. He heard the announce-
ment about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center and put on the TV to see if
they were carrying coverage. Needless to say, they were.

“April, come watch TV. A passenger airliner crashed into the World Trade Center in
New York.”

“What? How could that happen? Those are the tallest buildings in the world, aren’t
they?”

“If not the tallest, close; Sears tower in Chicago, is the tallest, I think. The north tower is
burning.”

8
“Look a jet is flying into the other building.”

“April, one crash could be an accident. Two crashes have to be terrorism.”

“Switch to CNN and see what they have for coverage.”

“They’re showing both crashes over. Wait they’re changing to the Pentagon. Damn, a
plane just hit the Pentagon.”

“Who would do such a thing?”

“The last attack on the WTC was by Muslims. That happened just after Noon on Febru-
ary 26, 1993, if I remember.”

“There’s the President.”

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a difficult moment for America. I, unfortunately, will be go-
ing back to Washington after my remarks. Secretary Rod Paige and the Lt. Governor
will take the podium and discuss education. I do want to thank the folks here at Booker
Elementary School for their hospitality.

Today we’ve had a national tragedy. Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade
Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country. I have spoken to the Vice Presi-
dent, to the Governor of New York, to the Director of the FBI, and have ordered that the
full resources of the federal government go to help the victims and their families, and to
conduct a full-scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed
this act.

Terrorism against our nation will not stand.

And now if you would join me in a moment of silence. May God bless the victims, their
families, and America. Thank you very much.

Later that day, Bush issued a press release:

I want to reassure the American people that the full resources of the federal government
are working to assist local authorities to save lives and to help the victims of these at-
tacks. Make no mistake: The United States will hunt down and punish those responsible
for these cowardly acts.

I’ve been in regular contact with the Vice President, the Secretary of Defense, the na-
tional security team and my Cabinet. We have taken all appropriate security precautions
to protect the American people. Our military at home and around the world is on high
alert status, and we have taken the necessary security precautions to continue the func-
tions of your government.

9
We have been in touch with the leaders of Congress and with world leaders to assure
them that we will do whatever is necessary to protect America and Americans.

I ask the American people to join me in saying thanks for all the folks who have been
fighting hard to rescue our fellow citizens and to join me in saying a prayer for the vic-
tims and their families.

The resolve of our great nation is being tested. But make no mistake: We will show the
world that we will pass this test. God bless.

That evening, Bush addressed the nation:

Good evening. Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under
attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes,
or in their offices; secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers;
moms and dads, friends and neighbors. Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by
evil, despicable acts of terror.

The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing,
have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts
of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they
have failed; our country is strong.

A great people have been moved to defend a great nation. Terrorist attacks can shake
the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of Ameri-
ca. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.

America was targeted for attack because we’re the brightest beacon for freedom and
opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.

Today, our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature. And we responded with the
best of America – with the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers
and neighbors who came to give blood and help in any way they could.

Immediately following the first attack, I implemented our government’s emergency re-
sponse plans. Our military is powerful, and it’s prepared. Our emergency teams are
working in New York City and Washington, DC to help with local rescue efforts.

Our first priority is to get help to those who have been injured, and to take every precau-
tion to protect our citizens at home and around the world from further attacks.

The functions of our government continue without interruption. Federal agencies in

Washington which had to be evacuated today are reopening for essential personnel to-
night, and will be open for business tomorrow. Our financial institutions remain strong,
and the American economy will be open for business, as well.

10
The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I’ve directed the full
resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsi-
ble and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who
committed these acts and those who harbor them.

I appreciate so very much the members of Congress who have joined me in strongly
condemning these attacks. And on behalf of the American people, I thank the many
world leaders who have called to offer their condolences and assistance.

America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the
world, and we stand together to win the war against terrorism. Tonight, I ask for your
prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for
all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be
comforted by a power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23:
‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are
with me.’

This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice
and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None
of us will ever forget this day. Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good
and just in our world.

Thank you. Good night, and God bless America.

Except to get up to use the bathroom or get more coffee, April and Tom were glued to
the TV until after the President addressed the nation.

“What now?” April asked.

“I guess we’ll be going to war.”

“With whom?”

“Whoever they end up blaming the attacks on.”

The following day, a reporter asked Ari Fleischer, Ari, all the fingers are being pointed at
Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan; he is being helped by, supported by Taliban and
bases in Pakistan. So are we talking about now going against Afghanistan or Pakistan?
And if it happened, then it is all in the name of Islam. So is it time now for the United
States not to wait anymore, more innocent people will be killed in the name of terror-
ism?

Fleischer responded: I was asked earlier about who we believe is the source of this.
And I indicated that the United States continues to gather the facts about that infor-
mation. So your question presupposes the answer, and I’m not prepared to do that.

11
 A Family Alone – Chapter 3 – The War on Terror

Secretary Powell has said that bin Laden is the prime candidate for these terrorist at-
tacks. Is that the view of the White House? And secondly, can you straighten out for us
whether or not the administration intends to use military personnel as sky marshals, or
in any other way, to secure civilian aircraft flights?

On your first question, I think what the Secretary said was – he was asked a question
about is bin Laden a suspect, and he indicated yes. I don’t think he said “prime,” but I’d
have to check the record on that. But he did indicate yes. On the question of the mili-
tary, Jim, I just – I’ll have to find out from the Department of Transportation. When you
asked me this morning I tried to refer you to Transportation. I don’t have that information
here.

On 9/15/01 Bush told reporters:

Sir, are you satisfied that Osama bin Laden is at least a kingpin of this operation?

There is no question he is what we would call a prime suspect. And if he thinks he can
hide and run from the United States and our allies, he will be sorely mistaken.

On September 17th, Bush told reporters: The focus right now is on Osama bin Laden,
no question about it. He’s the prime suspect, and his organization. But there are other
terrorists in the world. There are people who hate freedom. This is a fight for freedom.
This is a fight to say to the freedom-loving people of the world: we will not allow our-
selves to be terrorized by somebody who thinks they can hit and hide in some cave
somewhere.

The UN Security Council also issued a resolution on September 18, 2001 directed to-
wards the Taliban demanding that they hand over the terrorist Osama bin Laden and
close all terrorist training camps immediately and unconditionally. The council also re-
ferred to a resolution it adopted in December 2000 demanding that the Taliban turn over
bin Laden to the United States or a third country for trial in the deadly bombings of the
two US embassies in Africa in August 1999.

On September 20, 2001, Bush addressed a joint session of Congress:

On September the 11th, enemies of freedom committed an act of war against our coun-
try. Americans have known wars – but for the past 136 years, they have been wars on
foreign soil, except for one Sunday in 1941. Americans have known the casualties of
war – but not at the center of a great city on a peaceful morning. Americans have known
surprise attacks – but never before on thousands of civilians. All of this was brought up-
on us in a single day – and night fell on a different world, a world where freedom itself is
under attack.

12
Americans have many questions tonight. Americans are asking: Who attacked our
country? The evidence we have gathered all points to a collection of loosely affiliated
terrorist organizations known as al Qaeda. They are the same murderers indicted for
bombing American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, and responsible for bombing the
USS Cole.

Al Qaeda is to terror what the mafia is to crime. But its goal is not making money; its
goal is remaking the world – and imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere. The
terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by Muslim
scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics – a fringe movement that perverts the
peaceful teachings of Islam. The terrorists’ directive commands them to kill Christians
and Jews, to kill all Americans, and make no distinction among military and civilians, in-
cluding women and children.

This group and its leader – a person named Osama bin Laden – are linked to many
other organizations in different countries, including the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. There are thousands of these terrorists in more than
60 countries. They are recruited from their own nations and neighborhoods and brought
to camps in places like Afghanistan, where they are trained in the tactics of terror. They
are sent back to their homes or sent to hide in countries around the world to plot evil
and destruction.

The leadership of al Qaeda has great influence in Afghanistan and supports the Taliban
regime in controlling most of that country. In Afghanistan, we see al Qaeda’s vision for
the world.

Afghanistan’s people have been brutalized – many are starving and many have fled.
Women are not allowed to attend school. You can be jailed for owning a television. Re-
ligion can be practiced only as their leaders dictate. A man can be jailed in Afghanistan
if his beard is not long enough.

The United States respects the people of Afghanistan – after all, we are currently its
largest source of humanitarian aid – but we condemn the Taliban regime. It is not only
repressing its own people, it is threatening people everywhere by sponsoring and shel-
tering and supplying terrorists. By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is
committing murder.

And tonight, the United States of America makes the following demands on the Taliban:
Deliver to United States authorities all the leaders of al Qaeda who hide in your land.
Release all foreign nationals, including American citizens, you have unjustly imprisoned.
Protect foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers in your country. Close immediate-
ly and permanently every terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, and hand over every
terrorist, and every person in their support structure, to appropriate authorities. Give the
United States full access to terrorist training camps, so we can make sure they are no
longer operating.

13
These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion. The Taliban must act, and
act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate.

I also want to speak tonight directly to Muslims throughout the world. We respect your
faith. It’s practiced freely by many millions of Americans and by millions more in coun-
tries that America counts as friends. Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those
who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah. The terrorists are
traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself. The enemy of America is
not our many Muslim friends; it is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical
network of terrorists, and every government that supports them.

Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until
every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.

It had taken the President of the United States from September 11, 2001 until Septem-
ber 20, 2001 to put a face on the ‘monsters’ officially.

On October 7, 2001 at 12:30 pm EDT (9 PM local time) the United States, supported by
Britain, began its attack on Afghanistan, launching bombs and cruise missiles against
Taliban military and communications facilities and suspected terrorist training camps.

In his March 17, 2003 address to the nation, President Bush demanded that Iraqi Presi-
dent Saddam Hussein and his two sons Uday and Qusay leave Iraq, giving them a 48-
hour deadline. All three refused this demand.

Since the invasion began without the explicit approval of the United Nations Security
Council, some legal authorities regard it as a violation of the UN Charter, and therefore
unauthorized. At approximately 02:30 UTC or about 90 minutes after the lapse of the
48-hour deadline, at 5:30 am local time, explosions were heard in Baghdad. At 03:15
UTC, or 10:15 pm EST, President Bush announced that he had ordered the coalition to
launch an “attack of opportunity” against specified targets in Iraq.

“What are they calling this one, Gulf War #2?” April asked.

“Operation Iraqi Freedom, April.”

“What do they call the thing in Afghanistan?”

“Enduring Freedom.”

“Yeah right, and Lincoln freed the slaves,” April chuckled. “I thought it was over. Bush
made that speech from that aircraft carrier.”

14
“They’re still looking for the WMDs. They probably won’t find them unless they look in
Syria. I’m concerned about other things. Russia and China announced joint maneuvers
after the first of the year and apparently Russia is selling 40 Backfire Cs to the Chi-
nese.”

“I thought that India was buying a couple Akula IIs from the Russians.”

“It was supposed to be a lease/purchase. India’s interested in leasing a pair of Type 971
SSNs is based in part on the slow progress in the Advanced Technology Vessel. As of
November 2001 it was reported that the terms of lease for a single Akula II/Schuka-B
class nuclear-powered submarine had been finalized in September 2001. The subma-
rine, to be leased for three years at a price of $25 million, was expected to arrive in Vi-
shakapatnam in early 2002. However, as of February 2002 the Russian submarines
were slated to begin service in the Indian Navy in 2004 under a five-year lease. India
was to help finance the construction of the two new Akula class boats with the proceeds
allowing Russia to complete the first Type 855 SSN. At that time no agreement had
been reached on the transfer of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, the proposed
lease of two Akulas, or the purchase of four Tu-22M Backfire bombers.

“As of mid-2002 the Indian Ministry of Defense was saying little about a move to lease-
purchase two Project 971 class nuclear submarines from Russia. But negotiations were
reported to be at an advanced stage and India’s commitment could include providing
money to enable Russia to complete construction work on the subs. The subs in ques-
tion were believed to be of the Project 971 improved Akula-II class.

“On 20 January 2004 India finalized the purchase of the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral
Gorshkov after over a decade of negotiations. But Russian Defense Minister Sergei
Ivanov and Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes did not reach agreement on
other weapons, such as the Tu-22 Backfire bombers or Akula-class nuclear subma-
rines. The Russian are down to a single Typhoon, 7 of the Delta IV and 4 of the Delta III
ballistic missile subs. They supposedly have 9 of the Akula class attack subs. They may
also have one of their cruise missile subs. They also have a bunch of Kilos left over.”

“You’ve been reading again.”

“I looked up a few things on Global Security when I heard about the joint maneuvers
and the Backfires.”

“Bush got reelected but I think he’s going to really catch hell over Iraq in his second
term Tom. They didn’t find any of the WMDs so maybe you right and they’re all in Syria.
Do you plan to watch the Inauguration?”

“Nope. I voted more against Kerry than for Bush. On another subject, do you want to try
and adopt again?”

15
“I don’t think I can take the heartbreak honey. Maybe we could sign up to offer foster
care.”

“I doubt that would work out April. With the roads closed every winter off and on, we
couldn’t keep a foster child in school. Sorry. Maybe we should look into adopting and
older child instead of a baby.”

“How old?”

“Maybe 7 or 8. By that age, most of the kids have been pretty thoroughly picked over.
The child would have to know that he or she was wanted if we selected them.”

“But would they select us?”

“Hard to say. There are a lot of kids in foster care waiting for someone to adopt them.”

“I’ll look into it. We’ve been screened 3 times; maybe it won’t take so long. All they need
to do is update the previous reports.”

“I’m game if you are. I don’t think we’re too old, do you? Thirty-six would be about right
for a child between 8 and 12. If you get the papers, I’ll help you fill them out.”

“Hello Mrs. Henson, planning on trying again?”

“Tom and I talked it over and considering our age, perhaps we could adopt an older
child.”

“What age did you have in mind?”

“No younger than 8 and no older than 14.”

“We have several children in that age group. Since you just did the paperwork not all
that long ago, we can have you update everything and give it a try. I don’t suppose that
you’d be interested in providing foster car for a boy and a girl, would you?”

“Related?”

“Brother and sister. She’s 13 and he’s 11. Their parents were abusing them and we took
them out of the home. The hearing to terminate the parental rights has been completed.
They didn’t do well in the first home where we placed them and the one they’re in now
isn’t meeting their needs. We could have them placed with you on a temporary basis in
short order. Do you need to talk to your husband?”

16
 A Family Alone – Chapter 4 – Instant Family

“Tom sent me in to pick up the paperwork. What else would we have to do?”

“Update your paperwork, submit information on your financial status and another home
visit.”

“Give me the forms and I’ll talk to Tom.”

“Did he get a job?”

“No, we decided that with my business volume, it would take the two of us to keep up
with the business. Watkins Products, remember? Our mail order business has really
taken off since I put up a website a few years back.”

“Here’s the form set. Please complete them and return them as soon as possible.”

“Can you tell me anything more about the children?”

“She’s an 8th grader and he’s in 6th grade. Their names are Sam and Rob.”

“Sam? Do you mean Samantha?”

“That’s her name but she insists on being called Sam. Rob’s full name is Robert. I’ll tell
you right up front, neither of them is very trusting. Especially after 2 foster homes in a
little over a year.”

“What do you think; can we handle 2 at the same time?”

“Eleven and thirteen? I suppose we could give it a try, where’s the paper work?”

“Right here; she told me that we could just attach our latest tax return and bank state-
ment. We could be approved in a month.”

“Did you ask about home schooling?”

“That would be subject to the approval of the school district. She said that given our re-
mote location, the DCFS wouldn’t automatically disallow it.”

Tom reached into a desk draw and extracted 2 file folders.

“Make them copies, I don’t want to give up the originals of either the tax returns or the
bank statement. Let’s do the paperwork and I’ll process the orders tomorrow while you
take them back. Anything else we need to do?”

17
“Just the usual home visit. If the kids work out, we can put in additional paperwork to
adopt them.”

“How is the road? Is it clear enough for another trip down the hill?”

“It’s fine, Tom. They bladed it and the sun melted off the remaining snow. I’ll be ok.”

“Are you satisfied with this arrangement April? I’d hate to see you become attached and
then not get approved if we wanted to adopt.”

“We can cross that bridge when we come to it. Ready to get started?”

“Back so soon? I didn’t expect to see you for a week.”

“The road was clear and Tom and I did the papers last night.”

“We go through them and let you know whether or not to expect a home visit. There
shouldn’t be any problem. Besides, we need to move those kids as soon as possible.
Sam has already run away once.”

“She could try that in our area, but she wouldn’t get too far. It’s a long walk to the near-
est neighbor.”

“What do you do when the phones go out?”

“Cell phone. Doesn’t everyone have one?”

“I suppose so. Ok, Mrs. Henson, I give you a call when everything has been processed.”

“Thank you. Let me give you my cell phone number in case the phone lines go down
again.”

“Does that happen a lot where you live?”

“It seems like it happens every winter. Ice takes out the phone and electrical lines. We
have a standby generator so we always have power and of course the cell phone so
we’re never out of touch.”

“Does your road close often?”

“Afraid so. The Country has us on the bottom of their grading list.”

“What about school for Sam and Rob?”

18
“We’re going to apply with the school district to offer them home schooling, an education
is so important these days.”

A month later, they got a call to expect a home visit, two days hence. It came when they
were up to their ears in orders and April didn’t have time to thoroughly clean house.
That was a chore usually reserved for Saturdays. Sunday mornings they usually went to
Church and if they needed anything, they went shopping on Sunday afternoon.

“I had a devil of a time finding this place,” the social worker said.

“We’re at the end of the road.”

“Big house. How old is it?”

“It must be at least 100 years old. It’s been modified over the years and the previous
owner added insulation. This is the kitchen, of course.”

“Is that a wood stove?”

“Yes. Tom bought it for me for Christmas. They’re made in Canada. That room there is
the den/office. This is the dining room and the next room is the living room. That’s
where the stairs to the upstairs are located.”

“Ok, this is our room, and there are 3 other bedrooms so should the kids come to live
with us, we thought they could choose their own room. Would you like a cup of coffee?
We can sit at the kitchen table to visit.”

“You’re self-employed?”

“Watkins products mostly mail order. I’ll get Tom; he’s packing orders at the moment.”

“You have a lovely home.”

“Thanks. It needs dusting, but that’s a Saturday chore and frankly, I couldn’t take time to
dust before your visit.”

“Your home isn’t dirty. You should see some of the homes we visit. I noticed antennas
on the out buildings, is one of you a ham?”

“Tom has a General license and I’m a coded Technician.”

“You’ve been trying to adopt for a while, haven’t you?”

19
“We’d all but given up. Infants are difficult to come by. Then, Tom suggested we might
want to adopt older children. What’s next?”

“We’d foster the children with you for a few months and see how that goes. If it works
out satisfactorily and the children agree, adoption would be the next step. What are you
going to do for bedroom furniture?”

“We talked it over and decided to let Sam and Rob pick out their own, assuming they
come to live with us.”

“I think you might want to pick the kids up and take them shopping.”

“You mean we’re approved?”

“There is still a lot of paperwork, but I’m going to recommend in favor of it, yes.”

“Can you arrange for us to pick them up and do some shopping in Fresno?”

“I think that can be arranged. I’ll call and let you know.”

“Mrs. Henson? Sally Collins, the social worker. Can you pick up Sam and Rob at 10am
on Saturday morning?”

“We’re approved?”

“You’re approved. Sorry we couldn’t give you more advance notice, but you’ll be taking
them home with you.”

“We’ll have to bring a trailer and pick up new furniture for them. Where and when?”

“Be at our office at 10am. They don’t have much in the way of belongings.”

“Not a problem, we’ll be there.”

“Tom, we’re approved! We pick up Sam and Rob at 10am Saturday morning at the
DCFS office in Fresno.”

“You don’t say. That was sudden, wasn’t it?”

“It sure was. I’ll clean up the bedrooms upstairs while you finish getting the orders
around. We can pick them up, shop for furniture and maybe clothes. Ms. Collins said
that they didn’t have much.”

20
Saturday morning, 10am, Fresno…

“Sam and Rob, these folks are Tom and April Henson. They live up in the mountains
and you’re going to be staying with them for a few months.”

“I just want to go home,” Sam slumped.

“Your father is in jail and we haven’t heard from your mother. You know that.”

“You must be Rob,” Tom said extending his hand.

“Hi,” Rob replied hesitantly.

“Do you have suitcases?”

“Just these duffel bags.”

“It looks like we need to go shopping. Do you kids want a few new clothes?”

“Already trying to bribe us and we aren’t even out of the office, Robbie.” Sam advised.

“Well little Miss hardcase. You’re going to need good clothes up in the Sierra Nevada’s.”

“Whatever.”

“Wal-Mart?”

“I think so.”

“I like these,” Sam announced.

“Look over there Sam, no low rise jeans allowed.”

“Aww…”

“Shoes next, Tom?”

21
 A Family Alone – Chapter 5 – Getting Acquainted

“Shoes and then furniture. Did you get them new underclothing?”

“I think we’ll go to Penny’s for that.”

“This is a pretty dress,” Sam said holding it up.

“You’re going to need something for Church, go ahead and try it on. Tom why don’t you
find Rob a nice sports coat and some slacks?”

At Penny’s, they got underwear, two dresses for Sam, a sports coat, 2 pair of slacks
and white shirts for Rob plus dress shoes. Next stop was a shoe store and Rob and
Sam went with cowboy boots for everyday wear. Finally, they were ready to shop for
furniture.

“We have 3 empty bedrooms in our home and no furniture. We thought that you might
like to pick out your own bedroom furniture.”

“I want bunk beds,” Rob grinned.

“Ok, but you need a chest for your clothes and a desk to study at.”

“I want a poster bed,” Sam intoned.

“Maybe a trundle, Sam? Would you like a 9-drawer dresser too?”

“Whatever.”

They found a trundle poster bed and a 9-drawer dresser for Sam. They also got her a
desk and 2 chairs. Rob got a bunk bed he picked out himself and a 5-drawer chest. He
also got a desk and 2 chairs. They stopped by a Circuit City and picked up 2 inexpen-
sive desktop computers. Then they were off to Hildreth and home.

“Where are we?” Sam asked. “This is like 1,000-miles from anywhere.”

“We’re only 35 miles from Fresno, Sam.”

“Where do we go to school?”

“Right here, we’re going to get Rob and you approved for home schooling.”

“We won’t learn a damned thing.”

“Watch your mouth, young lady,” April said. “No cussing allowed.”

22
“So what are you going to do? Beat me? Sic you husband on me to grope me?”

“None of the above. Tell me why your father is in jail.”

“They said he molested me.”

“Did he?”

“I suppose.”

“There’ll be none of that in this house, Sam. Was Rob molested too?”

“Mom was seeing someone.”

“And your father went to you?”

“Only when he was drinking.”

“How long did that go on?”

“Not very long, I complained to a neighbor and the next thing you knew, the cops
showed up. They locked dad up and mom disappeared. Probably took off with her boy-
friend.”

“There will be no groping or leering in this house. You’ll find things a little different than
what you’re used to. We run our business out of our basement. It’s Watkins products
and I have a website.”

“Where’s my TV?”

“We only have one TV and it’s in the living room.”

“What do you call this hell hole, Gulag 17?”

“We call it home.”

“What did she mean by Gulag 17, Tom?”

“Sam was probably referring to the William Holden movie, Stalag 17.”

“She’s a tough one. When she unpacked, I noticed pads, so I’ll need to run to the store
tomorrow and lay in a supply. Do we need anything else while I’m there?”

“Well, you might want to add additional toilet paper and paper towels.”

23
“She wanted to know where her TV was.”

“We have 4 satellite receivers, but do you think they need their own TV?”

“Maybe later. I have the impression from something that she said that the TV has been
their babysitter for a very long time.”

“What about Internet access? I can run a cable and hook them into the switch. Those
computers we bought have an integral Ethernet chip.”

“That can wait a while too, Tom. It appears that we have several things that we can use
as rewards.”

“I’ll run the cables for the TV and internet when I have the time. When we’ve decided
they earned something, I can hookup the cables.”

“That will be ok. Sam was molested by her father and I think her mother was running
around on him, Sam said something about a boyfriend, more than once.”

“No wonder she acts the way she does. Pick up a couple of color TV’s from Costco,
nothing fancy, and we’ll put them in the storage building for when they’ve earned a TV.”

“I had to go to Circuit City to get the TVs. Everything Costco had was over $1,000.
They’re in the back of the pickup.”

“I’ll put them in the storage building. There weren’t many orders to pack so I took the
time to run the cables. Rob helped. I didn’t connect the cables to the switch and I didn’t
put the satellite receivers in their rooms; I just ran the cables. After I get the TVs put
away, I run the order to UPS.”

“What did the kids do today?”

“Rob helped me and Sam watched TV all day.”

“I’m going to lay down the rules after dinner.”

“Rules? When did you have time to come up with rules?”

“I had plenty of time to think about it going and coming. Nothing spectacular. They’re
going to help us in the business and that will earn them an allowance. I think daily bath-
ing is in order, too. Sam can learn to help me in the kitchen and Rob can help you when
you get firewood.”

24
“I’ll be back in about an hour. The kids are both in the living room.”

“Supper ok?”

“Whatever.”

“I think this would be a good time to explain the rules around here.”

“What took you so long?”

“Do you have anything to say, Rob?”

“No ma’am.”

“Rule one: everyone is expected to shower or bath daily, no exceptions.”

“Rule two: Sam will learn to cook and help me in the kitchen; Rob will help Tom gather
firewood. Those were your chores and in addition to those things, you’ll be expected to
keep you rooms clean. That will happen every day.”

“Rule three: you will work with us in the business, mostly packing shipments. For this
you will be paid an allowance which you are free to spend, within reason.”

“Rule four: you will do home school every evening during the school year. Tom and I will
both be available to help with your lessons.”

“Finally: Tom and I have decided that you can have internet access and perhaps a TV in
your rooms, but only when you’ve earned them. We have satellite receivers and I
bought new TVs today. Tom wired both of your rooms for Internet and TV. From now
on, it’s up to you when you will receive them.”

“What do you have, dialup?”

“We did, but with the business to support the expense, we have a T-1 line. That’s like a
synchronous DSL line, 1.544mbits both ways.”

“When do we get to go online?”

“When you earn the privilege.”

“I have rights.”

“That’s right, Sam you do. You have the right to express yourself and to be fed and
clothed. You have the right to be free from danger. Anything after that is a privilege.”

25
“Let’s go to my room Robbie.”

“Samantha, I’m not going anywhere. That’s fair. We can earn allowances that we get to
keep. The food tastes good and we have enough to eat, not like before. Nobody has
threatened to beat us up again. You do what you want; I’m going to give it a try.”

Sam left the table and shortly thereafter, April followed.

“Sam, I picked some personal items up for you at the store. I put them in the bathroom.
Won’t you at least give it a try? I’ll make the meals, but sometimes it would be nice to
have someone to peel potatoes and dry the dishes.”

“I’d like to be able to send emails to some of my friends.”

“I’ll talk to Tom about setting you and Robbie each an email account. But for now, you’ll
have to access them on the computer in the den.”

“Who do you have your Internet through?”

“SBC.”

“I have an SBC email account; you don’t need to set one up. Do you suppose I could
check my mail?”

“Tom will set up your account and password. You’ll have to give him the information.
You can download your emails, print them out and erase them.”

“Print them so you can read them?”

“I didn’t say that. Print them so you have a copy and we don’t.”

“Oh. That would be ok. My user ID is Sammy007@sbcglobal.net. My password is rot-

tenparents.”

“I’ll have Tom set it up and you can check you emails later this evening.”

“I’ll dry the dishes.”

“Thanks.”

Rob and Tom were playing Monopoly and Rob was winning. Sam helped April with
dishes and Tom set up an email account on the office computer in the den. He even re-

26
loaded the printer so that Sam could print out her emails. The first thing Sam did was to
change her password, both on the computer and at the SBC website.

27
 A Family Alone – Chapter 6 – Adjusting

Sam got her emails, printed them out and erased the files. April and Tom used Internet
Explorer and Outlook Express. The mail program wasn’t preset to erase the messages
when you exited and they remained in the deleted box. Generally, it fell to April to clear
out the deleted box. She generally scanned the deleted box before she did so. She saw
some of Sam messages and was going to ignore them; however, one subject line
caught her eye and she read the message.

“Those were her private emails, April, you shouldn’t have read it.”

“I know. But the subject line said ‘escape plan’.”

“What’s she going to do, walk off and have someone pick her up?”

“That’s the plan, Tom.”

“People who don’t know this area will have a hard time finding the road. It’s not on any
map. Remember how much trouble the social worker from DCFS had? She came in the
daytime and had to ask.”

“What are we going to do?”

“I’ll take care of it, when is she escaping?”

“Tomorrow night. She’s supposed to meet them a mile from the house around 2am.”

“No problem, I’ll handle it. Did you erase the emails?”

“Yes.”

“Please don’t do that again, honey. How would you like for her to read your emails?”

Tom reset Outlook Express to automatically empty the deleted box when the program
was exited. The following evening, he left before midnight and drove the five miles to
where the road entered route 41. Originally the road had been a private road, but the
previous owner had given it to the State so they could maintain it. Tom closed the old
gates that the state had never taken down. Next he sat and waited until a car had
passed by a couple of times obviously looking for the road. When it didn’t come back in
an hour, Tom opened the gates and headed back to the house. Sam was sitting on a
duffel bag waiting for her friends.

“I don’t think they’ll be coming Sam, they couldn’t find the road.”

“What did you do, stop them? How did you know they were coming?”

28
“I didn’t talk to anyone. We had a feeling that you might try and leave tonight. As I said,
they won’t be coming. Please get in and I’ll take you home.”

“They said that they couldn’t find the road. I was positive that you’d run them off.”

“Sam, the road used to be a private road and many people overlook it.” (Especially
when the gate is closed.)

“I’ll help April with dishes.”

“What did you do?” April asked later.

“I closed the gate. The boys in that car were about 18-19 years old and not exactly what
I’d call clean cut.”

“Maybe it will end here.”

“We can hope. How are we going to reimburse the kids for helping with packing the or-
ders?”

“How about a piece rate? I can charge a portion of their wages against the business and
the rest can be an allowance from us.”

“How much per box?”

“I’ll give them the UPS discount. That should reflect the size of the order.”

“Hey, what gives? I know how many pieces I packed.”

“And now you know about withholding taxes, Sam.”

“I’m just a kid.”

“Tell it to Congress, Sam. You may not make enough to have to pay any taxes and you
might get a refund next April.”

“What if we’re not here?”

“Well, you’ll have to file you own return and they’ll send the money to the address on the
return. If Robbie and you are still here, our accountant will prepare your returns and the
check will come to you here.”

“When do we get to go shopping?”

29
“Every Sunday afternoon after church. We attend Church in Fresno.”

“I don’t go to church.”

“That why you have the lovely new dresses, to look nice for Church.”

“What Church do you go to?”

“Grace Lutheran.”

“And we go shopping after?”

“We have lunch first and then shopping. What did you want to buy?”

“Maybe a CD?”

“Ok. Does Robbie want to buy something too?”

“He said that he wants to save up his money for a rifle.”

“What kind of rifle?”

“A .22 something.”

“I heard that you’re saving you money for a rifle.”

“That’s right, I want a Winchester 9422 .22LR. They are going to stop making them. The
Special Edition Legacy Tribute Model 9422 is a unique opportunity to own a rare, fine
shooting .22 with elegant looks that will be admired for years to come. It resembles the
centerfire Model 94, featuring a high-grade pistol grip walnut stock and forearm, careful-
ly checkered. The deeply blued receiver is delicately engraved with a tribute to the 9422
and the traditional Winchester Horse and Rider.”

“I see. When do you think you’ll have enough money?”

“I don’t know, maybe a year or so.”

“Ok. A good goal to shoot for.” (No pun intended.)

“What does he want?”

“A Winchester 9422. By the time he has enough money, you won’t be able to buy them.”

30
“He’ll be awfully disappointed.”

“No he won’t. I’ve always had a hankering to have one too. How about you?”

“Uh, now that you mention it, sure. I’ll bet Sam wants one too.”

“I wonder if I can get a discount.”

“Discount? They’re hard to get, Tom. Maybe I can get you 4, but I won’t promise. MSRP
is $551. I let you have them for $500 if I can get 4.”

“This is important. What about the previous models?”

“Same difference.”

“Work on it would you? I need at least one.”

“One I have in stock.”

“I’ll take it, but try and get me 3 more, ok?”

“This for you?”

“Christmas or birthday present for the boy we have living with us.”

“I have a sale on 40gr solid points, $7.95 a brick.”

“Give me a couple of cases, ok?”

“20 bricks? There won’t be a squirrel alive in the western Sierra Nevada’s.”

“On the other 3 Winchesters, either model will do.”

“Why didn’t you say so? I have 3 of the regular models in stock. Here, start filling out the
paperwork.”

“Well?”

“He had one of the Legacy’s and 3 of the regular models. I got the 4 rifles and 20 bricks
of solid point.”

31
“When are you going to give it to him?”

“When is his 12th birthday?”

“The day after Thanksgiving, November 25th.”

“I think maybe we can give it to him for Christmas. We’ll give Sam her TV for Christmas.
On his birthday, we’ll give him the TV and Sam a rifle. That will keep it even.”

“Ok, but I wouldn’t give her ammo until Christmas.”

“You have a point. Ok he gets the rifle and she gets the TV on his birthday and the other
way around on Christmas. Find out what she likes for CDs and we’ll get her some of
those for Christmas too.”

“They’re both growing, so clothes will be included. What do you want for Christmas?”

“Peace in the Middle East.”

“I can’t buy that in a store, give me some ideas.”

“Give me the Winchester, I bought. What do you want for Christmas?”

“How about a sewing machine?”

“What model?”

“A White 1730. It’s called their Quilt’N Sew model. It has a full size powerful motor.
Watch the sales, you can save a bundle.”

“I’ll give you a rifle too. How is Sam adjusting?”

“I don’t think it’s time to put in the adoption papers. She’s conforming, but she is doing it
out of obligation rather than because it’s what she wants to do.”

“That’s something at least. I don’t get that feeling from Rob.”

“Rob is 2 years younger and isn’t beset by raging hormones. I was hoping Sam would
find one of the boys at Church that she wanted to be friends with.”

“No Latino gangsta’s, April.”

32
 A Family Alone – Chapter 7 – One Down and One to Go

April fixed a small Butterball and all the trimmings for Thanksgiving dinner. There was
an air of excitement in the air because Robbie’s birthday was the following day. April
had taken Sam with her the last time she’d gone to Fresno and they’d picked out some
new clothes for Rob. Sam bought Rob 2 CD’s, one of one her favorite artists and one
that Rob might like. The following day, Robbie was up at the crack of dawn.

“Happy birthday, Robbie. What would you like for breakfast? It’s your birthday so I sup-
pose you can have anything you want.”

“Oatmeal ok?”

“I’ll fix some for everyone.”

“What’s wrong with Sam?”

“I didn’t know there was anything wrong with Sam.”

“She got an email and has been really upset ever since.”

“Did you ask her? She’s more likely to tell you than us.”

“She bit my head off. She acts scared.”

“I’ll talk to her about it later.”

Rob had to wait until after dinner to get his presents. April tried to talk to Sam, but she
wouldn’t answer April’s questions about what was wrong. April had to agree with Rob-
bie’s assessment Sam was frightened of something. She mentioned it to Tom, but Sam
had automatically erased the email when she’d exited Outlook Express. Tom also talked
to Sam but she wouldn’t say anything. She was very happy to finally have a TV of her
own, but didn’t even turn it on. Robbie was beside himself when he saw the Winchester
rifle. Tom gave Rob the usual lecture about it not being a toy, etc. He told Rob that if the
weather held, they could shoot the next day.

The kids had been approved for home schooling, mostly because of the location. The
bus driver with the route said he wasn’t taking his bus down that ‘lane’ during the winter.
They got all of the books and the school set up the appointments of when the monitor
would come by and check on their progress and answer questions. She also adminis-
tered the tests. She came once a week and seemed satisfied with the kids progress.
They both passed the tests she gave, surprising her.

“Home schooling is usually a last resort for kids who are having trouble in school. These
two seem to be doing fine.”

33
“We would have rather had them in school, but when it snows, the road is closed for
several days at a time. If we get a bad ice storm, we sometimes lose power and the
phone.”

“What do you do when that happens?”

“Cell phone and a standby generator. It’s more of an inconvenience than anything else.”

“What about going to the store for things you need?”

“If we don’t have it, we go without. That isn’t likely to happen, living in the country a per-
son learns to be prepared to live with a few inconveniences. We have a freezer and
shop at Costco. I bake our bread anyway.”

“Is that a wood stove?”

“Best thing there is to bake bread in, once you learn how much wood you need. Once
the loaves begin their final rise, I build a fire and once they’re ready to go in, I don’t have
to come back and check the oven again. It takes getting used to, but it’s handy. Tom
had me pick up a used commercial bread slicer and our bread is just like what we’d get
in a store, only better.”

“Samantha hasn’t fully adjusted, has she?”

“Not yet, but she’s a lot better than when they came this past spring.”

“When will she be 14?”

“January 8th.”

“I looked into her background as far as schooling goes, April. Samantha is way above
average smart, but she doesn’t apply herself.”

“Absent mother and a drunk for a father. There were problems in their home.”

“I read the file. He got convicted and sentenced to 5 years.”

“We hadn’t followed the case and the social worker didn’t mention it.”

“He’s not in prison, you know. He walked away from a work party and they’re looking for
him.”

“I didn’t know and I wonder why the DCFS didn’t warn us. Maybe that explains why Sam
is so upset lately.”

What do you mean?”

34
“On the day after Thanksgiving, Robbie mentioned that Sam had gotten an email and
was very upset, even frightened. I talked to her, so did Tom, but she wouldn’t say any-
thing. We both agreed that she was frightened and holding something back.”

“You might want to talk to your husband about this.”

“Tom, the teacher who comes by to check on the kids and give them their tests men-
tioned today that their father escaped and is on the loose. Perhaps that explains why
Sam is so upset. I really think we ought to make her show us the email.”

“It shouldn’t be a problem; he wouldn’t know where to look for them. But if he knew to
send her an email, maybe he can find out.”

“He’d probably think they’re in Fresno County.”

“Yes, and City of Fresno is pushing a million people. I suppose I should talk to the Sher-
iff down in Madera. Why don’t you contact DCFS tomorrow and find out what you can?”

“Sam, did you get an email from your father?”

“How did you know?”

“We were guessing. We heard that he escaped and is on the loose. I don’t want to pry,
but could you show us the email?”

“Do I have to?”

“No you don’t, Sam,” Tom replied. “However, it’s our responsibility to protect you now.
That would be easier to do if we had the email.”

“I’ll get it.”

“Here you go.”

“Jesus H. Christ. Excuse my language. He’s sick.”

“Let me see that, Tom. Oh, my!”

“Would you mind if April slept with you in the trundle bed?”

“It’s ok.”

35
“May I keep this email to show to the Sheriff?”

“I guess it would be ok.”

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner Sam? We can protect you. Even if your father could fig-
ure out where Robbie and you were, he wouldn’t be able to harm you.”

“Am I in trouble?”

“Whatever for? For being scared? No way. April will sleep with you until we can resolve
this situation. She’ll talk to DCFS tomorrow and I’ll talk to the Sheriff.”

“April, get your piece out of the cabinet, just in case. I’ll get mine too. What we need is a
dog. There isn’t time to get one either. I look into that tomorrow in Fresno, after I talk to
the Sheriff.”

It was questionable if Tom slept at all that night, the Monday after Thanksgiving. He left
the first thing in the morning to see Sheriff John P. Anderson or one of his Deputies.
Madera County has a large child protection program run by the Sheriff’s Department.
Tom got to talk with a Detective Martin.

“When did she get this email?”

“The date is on the top. I think a day or two before Thanksgiving. We just found out
about the escape yesterday. Sam gave us the email last night. My wife April is sleeping
with her until this matter is resolved.”

“Won’t that just be putting them both in harm’s way?”

“April’s armed.”

“You can’t shoot the SOB unless he’s armed too. You know California law, you have to
retreat.”

“What can you do?”

“We can increase patrols in the area and we can put out an advisory, but other than
that, there isn’t a lot we can do.”

“But, if he’s armed?”

“Shoot the SOB, no one will blame you. Have you considered the additional trauma on
the kids?”

36
“Robbie doesn’t know why Sam is upset. April has a call into DCFS this morning to find
out why they didn’t let us know he escaped.”

“The Fresno office of DCFS?”

“Yes.”

“They had a break in overnight. They claim that several files were gone through but that
nothing was missing.”

“You might want to have Fresno PD follow up on that and especially check for any files
pertaining to the kids.”

“I’ll give them a call.”

“Where can I get a guard dog?”

“Get a hold of the San Joaquin Valley German Shepherd Dog Club, Inc. Talk to a guy
named Mike Martinez, 4430 E. Floradora Ave. in Fresno. He can probably answer all of
your questions.”

“Thanks, how often will you patrol?”

“As many times as we can, but that probably won’t be enough to satisfy you will it Mr.
Henson?”

“You do what you have to detective and I’ll do what I have to.”

“Mind you don’t break any laws in the process.”

“Yes sir.”

“Are you Mike Martinez? My name is Tom Henson and I was referred to you by a Detec-
tive Martin in the Madera County Sheriff’s Department.”

“I’m Mike Martinez, what can I do for you?”

37
 A Family Alone – Chapter 8 – Grrrrr

“I need a guard dog for a while, with or without handler. I’m also looking for a German
Shepherd puppy that would make a good pet for my daughter. She’s a foster child that
my wife and I are thinking of adopting. Her father was convicted of child molestation but
escaped from jail. He’s sent her a threatening email.”

“I can refer you to a company that provides guard dogs and handlers. I can also refer
you to a breeder that has a 15-month-old German Shepherd for sale. The dog won’t be
cheap, but he’s trained.”

“Give me the names and addresses.”

“The top name is the Guard Service. The other name is the breeder. Good Luck.”

“Thanks.”

“Are you the fella with a German Shepherd for sale? I was given your name by Mike
Martinez.”

“Mr. Henson? Mike called. I still have the dog. He fully trained. Mike said that he re-
ferred you to a Guard Service, too. They’re fairly expensive. However, Champion would
alert and give you plenty of warning. I can let you have him for $1,250. He doesn’t have
show potential, however he would make an excellent family pet.”

“That’s a lot of money for a dog.”

“If he had show potential I’d be asking twice as much. He’s fully guaranteed so far as
his health goes.”

“Ok, sold. What do I feed him?”

“I give you a bag of feed to get him started. You can pick up more of the same thing at
Wal-Mart or a pet store.”

“His name is Champion?”

“Right, but he goes by Champ.”

“I’ll take him.”

“I assure you, you won’t be disappoint Mr. Henson”

38
“Sam you just became the mother of a 90 pound German Shepherd. His legal name if
Champion, but he goes by Champ. He’ll go to the door and bark if he needs to be let
out. Champ will sleep with April and you. April, what did you find out from DCFS?”

“Not much. Their office was ransacked but they don’t think that whoever it was had any-
thing to do with Sam and Robbie.”

“That Detective with the Madera County Sheriff seemed to think differently and has con-
tacted the Fresno PD. This dog I got Sam is a guard dog. He’ll let you know if we have
an intruder. If he growls, you wake me and call the Sheriff. They should have a patrol in
the general area.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Never mind, I take care of my end. If I tell you, you’ll be compromised.”

Tom had a Saturday night special (SNS) and an old beat up but serviceable Colt Detec-
tive’s Special. He thought about it and got out the Colt. It still had the ammo in it that it
had when he’d gotten the gun in a poker game years before. The SNS was a .38. Over
the course of the next two nights, nothing happened. On the third night, sometime after
midnight, Champ alerted. April woke Tom and he got his M1911 and the throw down
gun. April called the Sheriff, but the patrol would take at least 15 minutes and more like-
ly 20 minutes to arrive, even at Code 3. Tom slipped out of the house, with Champ on a
leash at his side.

Champ alerted and strain at the leash. Tom let Champ advance slowly. He had the dog
in one hand, with his flashlight and his gun in his other. He saw man and called out,
“Who goes there?” The reply was, “I have a gun.”

Tom shot the SOB. The man had been bluffing – he didn’t have a gun. Tom could hear
the siren approaching. He got out the Detective’s special and pressed the gun into the
man’s hand and then fired one round. The car pulled in about 3 minutes later. Tom and
Champ were waiting.

“He’s over there. I challenged him and he said he had a gun. He shot and I returned
fire.”

“Please let me have your weapon.”

“Help yourself Deputy. Champ, heel.”

“We heard that you got a guard dog.”

39
“This guy is dead, one round through the heart. I’ll call it in and call for the Medical Ex-
aminer (Also the Sheriff). Can we go into the house?”

“Sure, I’ll have April put on a pot of coffee. Do you know the guy?”

“He fits the general description of the kids’ father. He didn’t have a wallet.”

“Am I under arrest?”

“Not at the moment, that will be the Detective’s call. I’ll have to keep your gun for now.”

“Sure, we have more. April, could you put on a pot of coffee? Sam, Champ will stay with
you.”

“Thanks for the coffee. It’s been a long night. When you called we were out of position.
Sorry we couldn’t get here sooner.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Did you shoot someone, Tom?”

“Deputy, this is our foster child, Samantha. She’s the one who got the threatening
email.”

“Samantha the man may have been your father. He didn’t have any identification.”

“I can identify him.”

“We’d better wait for the Detectives and the Medical Examiner,” the Deputy advised.

“So what’s next?” Tom asked.

“I’m afraid we wait Mr. Henson.”

“Mrs. Henson, could you tell my partner what happened?”

“Mr. Henson, the Deputy retrieved a revolver from the man you shot. Can you tell me
what happened?”

“We got a German Shepherd from a breeder that Mike Martinez recommended. Tonight,
he alerted and April called your office. I got my pistol and the dog and I went outside.
Champ alerted again and I let him lead me to whatever alerted him. The man saw us
approach and said he had a gun. He fired one round. I shot him and went to check him.
He appeared to be dead. You’re patrol car arrived a few minutes later. They took my

40
pistol and checked on the guy. They called in and asked me to come into the house. We
had coffee while we waited for you to arrive.”

“Ok. I’ll need you to prepare a hand written statement. While you’re doing that, I have a
word with my partner and your wife. There won’t be any need for Samantha to identify
the body. The man you shot was, in fact, her father. I’ve ID’d him from his mug shot and
we’ll take prints at the autopsy. Please use these forms for your written statement. You’ll
need to fill out your statement in ink. If you make an error, draw a line through it and
continue. The Deputy will remain with you while you fill out the statement.”

“Ryan, he admits shooting the guy. What does the wife say?”

“The wife says that the dog alerted and her husband and the dog went outside while
she called us. She heard two shots, moments apart.”

“Ok, get her written statement and I’ll talk to the daughter.”

“Samantha, I’m Detective Martin. I sorry about what happened tonight. The man outside
was your father. What can you tell me about what happened?”

“It all started last week when I got the email. I didn’t say anything to anybody. They
asked, but I didn’t tell. Monday night they told me that they knew my father had escaped
and asked to see the email. I let them look at it and gave them permission to show it to
the Sheriff. April slept with me Monday night and I heard Tom up most of the night. An-
yway, Tuesday morning, Tom went to see the Sheriff and April called the DCFS. When
Tom came home Tuesday, he had Champ to protect me. Nothing happened for two
nights. Tonight, late, I don’t know the time, Champ growled and April went to Tom. Then
she called 911. Tom got his gun and when outside with the dog. I heard Tom ask who
was there or something like that and my dad said he had a gun. Then there were two
shots fairly close together and the Deputies showed up. Can I go now?”

“Did you talk to Tom between the time you heard the shots and before we got here?”

“He didn’t come back into the house until the Deputies brought him in.”

“What did you and April talk about?”

“We didn’t talk.”

“Ok, can you put that all in writing for me?”

“Can I use my computer?”

“I’m sorry Samantha, but it has to be handwritten.”

41
“If they didn’t have a chance to talk before we arrived, it appears to be open and shut.
Foster father kills rapist who fired at him first.”

“If that’s the way it happened,” the Deputy replied.

“Do you have any proof it didn’t happen just that way?”

“Proof? No, but I think the interval between the shots was more than a moment.”

“How much longer?”

“Maybe a few seconds.”

“Is it possible that Mr. Henson held his fire until he had a clear shot?”

“I suppose it’s possible.”

“Did you time the interval?”

“No, I was coming down that road 70 miles an hour.”

“We have a good guy protecting his family. The bad guy had a gun. The bad guy was
an escaped felon who had been convicted of molesting his daughter. He sent her a
threatening email. The foster father hesitated to shoot while he decided whether we’d
arrive in time and worried about the effect it might have on his foster daughter. Doesn’t
that about sum it up?”

“Yeah, I suppose.”

“Ok, we’ll write it up and run it by the DA, but I don’t think there will be any prosecution.
Are you good with that?”

“I can live with a scum ball molester being off the street.”

“I’ll need your report tonight when you get off shift.”

“Frigin paperwork.”

“Mr. Henson. For the moment, we’re not going to arrest you. I’ll run this by the DA to-
morrow and if he agrees, this case is closed. You pistol will be returned to you after
that.”

“Fine. He’s not the first man I ever had to kill.”

“Who else?”

42
“Damned if I know, some Iraqi during Desert Storm. And, in that case, I shot first. Any
chance I could get to bed now?”

43
 A Family Alone – Chapter 9 – Justifiable Homicide

The California Penal Code allows a defense of ‘self-defense’. If the DA is convinced that
the evidence supports such a conclusion, charges are not always brought. The Califor-
nia Court system has a terrible backlog. Charges are brought if there is any doubt and it
is left to a jury to determine if the homicide was justifiable. There may be a difference
between morally justified and legally justified. In this instance the DA decided that there
wasn’t a sufficient question to justify a trial. That decision rested on the fact that the de-
ceased had gunshot residue on his hand and no one made a statement contradicting
Tom statement. I told you how it really happened, but if I hadn’t, would you have be-
lieved Tom? I think under the circumstances, I would have.

Testing for gunshot residue is better suited for some things than others. It is basically a
test for the presence of nitrates. Tom admitted firing his gun, so he would naturally have
gunshot residue on his hands. Gunshot residue on the deceased man’s hand confirmed
that he had fired a gun. It wouldn’t tell you when that occurred. Which is better, to be
morally right or legally right?

Samantha wasn’t upset at the death of her father and Robbie apparently had already
written him off. While Robbie hadn’t been molested, he’d taken a few beatings when his
father had been drunk. If an escaped felon tells you he has a gun, it is prudent to be-
lieve him and protect your family. The world wouldn’t miss one more child molester.
And, Tom had given him a chance to surrender, more or less.

Things began to change in the household. Sam felt safer. When she got the rifle for
Christmas, she felt even more secure. April and Tom would spend long hours on the
range during the spring teaching the kids gun safety and how to shoot. There are all
manner of things a person has to be prepared for. Unfortunately this may include shoot-
ing someone who is attempting to harm your family. Just be sure you shoot straight…
You don’t need a live witness to contradict you.

“Can I keep saving my money?”

“If you want to. What are you saving up for now?”

“Another rifle. I’m getting close, too. I only need about another $150.”

“What kind of gun are you going to buy this time?”

“A Winchester.”

“Robbie, you have a Winchester.”

44
“Not in .45 Colt I don’t.”

“And after you have that rifle, what then?”

“Then I start saving up for a Ruger Vaquero.”

“Planning on being a cowboy when you grow up?”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do when I grow up, but I’ll have a bunch of guns. Can we
stay here?”

“That’s going to be up to your sister.”

“Oh good, we get to stay.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Sam called April Mom, but I’m not supposed to repeat it.”

“I can keep a secret, you know.”

“Ok, but don’t tell Mom.”

By spring of 2006, Robbie had the money for the Winchester rifle. Tom had to buy it for
him and so far as a revolver went, you had to be 21 to buy a handgun. Thinking ahead,
perhaps, Tom bought 4 Winchester Legacy model 94s in .45 Colt and 4 Ruger Original
Vaqueros, also in .45 Colt. He opted to buy all 4 handguns with 5½” barrels. The prob-
lem with buying firearms in early 2006 was that by the time you got the money for some-
thing you wanted, it was no longer available. When it came time for Robbie to pay Tom
for the rifle, Tom took the money. He immediately went to the coin shop in Fresno and
converted the money Robbie gave him into silver coins. He wrote Robbie’s name on the
rolls and added them to his safe along with the other gold and silver.

Eventually, Sam took a turn with Robbie’s new rifle and produced the money to buy her
own. Tom repeated the process with her money and put her silver coins in his safe. The
price of silver hadn’t changed so both kids had the same amount of silver. Tom also
gave April the Winchester and took the one he bought for himself. During the summer,
Robbie and Tom went to the area over by Mammoth Mountain and they harvested
about 10 cords of the dead wood that the high concentrations of carbon dioxide had
killed. Long Valley continued to be quiet and the largest earthquake during the year
2005 had been a M 2.9.

45
That left Sam and April to run the business. Which of course created an inequity in the
kids’ allowances. To make up for it, when the firewood was split and put away, Sam
helped Tom in the garden and Rob helped April pack the boxes. Almost a year to the
day after the kids had come to live with Tom and April; Sam broached the question of
adoption with April. They had a family meeting and decided that if both kids were cer-
tain, they’d talk to DCFS and get the ball rolling. Sam was still having a problem with the
Mom and Dad stuff, but Rob was a trooper by this time, using the labels freely. This
year, they were low on spaghetti sauce again so they planted 15 Roma tomato plants
and put up both tomato sauce and extra spaghetti sauce. The garden was simply larger
with 4 instead of two mouths to feed.

The neighbor down the road who also had a 3,000-gallon(net) propane tank came by
one day and told Tom and April that he and the wife were retiring and moving to town.
He wondered if Tom might be interested in buying his propane tank. They discussed a
price and Tom checked tank prices on the Internet before completing the deal. Even
with the cost of moving the tank and replacing the relief valve, Tom and April were get-
ting a very good deal on the tank. They also bought some of the other fellow’s things
that he was planning on selling at his farm sale, including a propane burning stove, a
propane powered refrigerator and a full set of cast iron pots and pans. All of these
things went into the shelter, with considerable effort. Once the tank was installed and
the valve replaced, they filled it with a 3,000-gallons of propane, the same as their other
tank.

When Tom’s pickup finally bit the dust, he scraped it after removing the aftermarket fuel
tank. This he installed in a diesel powered Dodge 3500. Since the truck was used in the
business a portion of the time, they put it in the name of the Corporation. Tom and April
kept a vehicle log detaining business and personal use at the suggestion of the ac-
countant. It was an expensive pickup, with nearly every option available. It had the crew
cab, automatic transmission, a 12k Warn winch, bed liner, etc. Instead of the
CD/tape/radio player, Tom went with an AM/FM radio and added a Kenwood TS-2000
radio, the only difference being the microphone. He had more antennas on his Dodge
than a typical police car. He also added a second alternator and second battery just to
power the radio. It was the same setup he had in the shelter except with mobile anten-
nas and hand held mike.

“The fire hazard is pretty high again this year; I’m going to clear all of the timber off the
rest of the acreage. Sam can tend the garden, Rob can help you and I’ll make firewood.
If I harvest any hardwood, maybe we can sell it for veneer.”

“You’ll be cutting timber until the snow falls.”

“Maybe, but I’m going to clear it all off.”

“You wouldn’t have to clear the entire 40 acres, would you?”

46
“I was thinking about converting it to pasture.”

“Pasture for what?”

“Maybe a beef or maybe horses, I haven’t decided.”

“Why don’t you leave the Black Oaks in to provide shade for the livestock you want to
get? There are only a few trees. Or, did you intend to farm the ground?”

“I’m not a farmer. Good suggestion, it might prevent erosion. I won’t have to cut fire-
wood for a long time, once I get the land cleared.”

“You won’t get it all cleared this year, will you?”

“I wish. No, honey probably this year and all of next year. I’m going to remove the
stumps as I go. I read about drilling holes in the stumps and adding 45-0-0 fertilizer to
accelerate the rotting process.”

“Hand drill?”

“No, I put the generator on the pickup remember?”

“It was a gas generator and the pickup is diesel.”

“I traded generators, used for used. I put in a 5.5kw diesel and an electric fuel pump.
Got a pretty good deal.”

“Sometimes you act like we’re made of money.”

“Is there a problem?”

“Not at the moment, no. We have two growing children that eat like they haven’t eaten
in a month every time they sit down at the table. That makes them grow and they’re out
of their clothes before they’re worn out.”

“The joys of parenthood. At least we missed the diapers. I’ll let you know before I spend
over $500 on anything, although, I can’t imagine what I might buy.”

“I can. You have a diesel pickup but you only have a 500-gallon gasoline tank. Don’t
you think we’d better put in a diesel tank?”

“I hadn’t given it any thought.”

“I checked with the dealer. Our choices are a stand tank like we have for gas or an un-
derground tank. The dealer strongly recommended that we put in a new divided under-

47
ground tank because of the fire danger. He said that there are some incentives at the
moment and that he’d give us a trade in on our old gas tank, provided it isn’t rusted.”

“Can we manage it?”

“As long as we don’t completely fill the diesel tank, yes.”

“I suppose we’d better, huh?”

“You start cutting trees and I’ll work it out with the dealer.”

The summer of 2006 was long and hot. April worked with the dealer and they had a sin-
gle pump that pumped gas or diesel. It was a used pump from a gas station. The tank
was a new fiberglass tank that met all of the state’s requirements. In addition to the mail
order business, she and the kids went to several garden shows, etc. to sell Watkins
products. Tom busied himself cutting down the pine trees, starting around the house
and moving into the ‘field’. He left all of the California Black Oak trees standing. They
talked it over and he bought a used hydraulic splitter for the firewood. He still had to split
kindling by hand, but it didn’t amount to much. With the late fall, Tom ended up with half
of the 40 acres cleared.

“We have a court hearing on the adoption scheduled for October 13 th.”

“Ok. How much diesel fuel did you end up with in the tank?”

“Two thousand gallons and I added a gallon of PRI-D.”

“What’s the capacity of the new tank?”

“Each section holds 4,500 gallons. I thought maybe we’d use 3 for diesel and one for
gas. However, the pump has three positions so we could have 3 different types of fuel if
we wanted.”

“I can’t think of what we’d need besides diesel and gas.”

“Neither can I, but we have the option. How much wood did you end up cutting, splitting
and stacking?”

“I have no idea. A lot.”

“Are you going to be able to finish clearing the acreage next year?”

“I don’t think so. I probably won’t be done until the summer of 2008. When I’m done, I
want to fence the 40 acres so we can have livestock.”

48
 A Family Alone – Chapter 10 – Clearing the Land

“Won’t we need a barn, too?”

“Not until I get the fence up.”

“Next year why don’t you get Rob to help you and Sam and I’ll run the business?”

“We could maybe do that. But Rob wouldn’t earn an allowance.”

“Sell a few loads of firewood and give him the money.”

“April, I could sell 200 cords and still have a huge pile.”

“You could sell firewood all winter, couldn’t you?”

“As long as the roads stayed open. I could use the trailer and in 100 days of hard work
sell off the 200 cords.”

“What’s it worth?”

“Delivered and stacked, $175 a cord.”

“Darn, that’s $35,000.”

“Less expenses. I could probably net $150 a cord.”

“Could you get a barn put in for $30,000?”

“For sure I could buy a big prefab and have it installed.”

“Which means that come spring you could get a barn built, right?”

“If we sell enough firewood.”

“I’ll put an ad in the paper and post a note on the website.”

“Ok. But Sam and you are going to have to take the orders.”

“I’m going to talk to SBC and have them use a portion of our T-1 line for phone service.
That should solve our phone problem once and for all.”

“The good news is that with all of the exercise, my knee is better. The bad news is that
I’m exhausted.”

“Have you decided on horses and cattle?”

49
“No. I haven’t decided on either. We can’t really do anything until the land is cleared and
the fence put up. I checked on the fencing and a 4-rail horse fence would cost about
$18,000 plus installation.”

“Why couldn’t you work around the property edges this coming summer? That would
clear the space for the fence and if you sold another 200 cords next year the fence
would be paid for.”

“So, you have it all figured out. Winter 2006-2007 we sell wood; spring of 2007 we in-
stall a barn; summer of 2007 we cut wood; winter of 2007-2008 we sell wood; spring of
2008 we install fence; and, the summer of 2008 we finish clearing pasture.”

“That sounds about right.”

“When do I get to rest?”

“There will be plenty of time to rest when you’re dead.”

“With the schedule you have worked out for me for the next couple of years, it might be
sooner than you think.”

“Oh pooh. The exercise is good for you. You’re looking fitter now than at any time since
you got out of the Army.”

“You know, if we clear a little extra money on the firewood we might be able to put more
fuel in our new underground tank.”

“That would be good. Anxious to get that done?”

“Filling the tanks? It doesn’t seem that the price of gas or diesel is going down.”

“Why don’t you have Rob drill the stumps next summer and you fell the trees? It might
be easier for him to do one thing and you the other.”

“Good idea. I’d rather not have him handling a chainsaw for another couple of years.”

Over the course of the winter, they sold, delivered and stacked 250 cords of firewood at
$175 a cord netting a cool $37,500. Tom paid Rob minimum wage and had enough left
come spring to put in a Castlebrook Barns Raised Center Aisle 8 stall horse barn on a
concrete slab. He had the barn oriented to permit them to install flexible thin film PV
roofing. The barn ran north and south and both sides of the roof had the thin film. The
eastern roof caught the morning sun and the western side the afternoon sun. With all of
the projects for 2007, they didn’t bother with a garden.

50
During the long summer of 2007, Rob and Tom managed to clear the remaining 20
acres and drill the ground level stumps. The winter of 2007, they sold another 250 cords
of wood and come spring of 2008, had the fence installed. The fence came through a
company in San Jose, A Wholesale Fence Company. It was a 54” high, heavy-duty, 4-
rail vinyl fence with posts 8’ on center. At the front of the property, next to the road, Tom
left in pines 3 layers deep and the fence went behind the trees and another stretch of
fence divided the front and back of the property. There was enough firewood left over to
last several years.

The prefabricated barn was even insulated. They picked up a feeder to have some beef
and went looking for horses. They bought western saddle horses instead of any pure-
bred lines. On the 25th of November 2008, Rob turned 15. Tom and April talked it over
and they finally let Rob have the Vaquero that Tom had bought back in the spring of
2006 and put up. And, of course, for Christmas Samantha got her revolver. Both kids
were doing fabulous in school. Sam was in 11th grade and Rob in 9th, and they were
still being home schooled. Sam had lost her ‘Whatever’ attitude somewhere along the
way and she had met a young man at the Church, Garry Owens.

Time flies when you’re busy. Samantha had pretty much reached her full growth too, so
it was easier buying her clothing. Rob was still growing like a weed and he looked to go
6’ by the time he was done. Dave had contacted Tom during the fall of 2008 and he had
some more of the M1As and M16s. Tom added one M1A Loaded, one M16A3, one 12-
gauge and one 20-gauge Saiga. The only thing missing to allow everyone to have near-
ly identical guns was Colt autos for the kids. Tom had them, but they were put up for the
next birthdays.

For her birthday in January of 2008, Sam had wanted dresses for Church. However,
both Tom and April suspected that it was to keep young Mr. Owens’ attention firmly
glued to Sam. Not that anything needed to be done to guarantee that. Rob had discov-
ered girls, but if he had his choice between dating and riding or shooting, the girls lost
out.

“At least Rob and I won’t have to battle the roads delivering firewood this year.”

“How much do we use?”

“About 5 cords a year and I’d speculate that we have 75 cords. I suppose we could get
more of the die off from Mammoth to keep our supply topped off.”

“It’s been 10-years since we bought the acreage. How about we take a vacation this
year?”

“Where would you like to go April?”

51
“Anywhere except Fresno. How about somewhere out of state?”

“We could go see Yellowstone and the Black Hills.”

“That’s fine. June?”

“That will be okay. I’ll have to talk to Garry about taking care of the livestock and
Champ. What about the Watkins orders?”

“They can pile up for a couple of weeks. I need a break.”

“Do you have any objections if I add a topper to the Dodge?”

“That might be a good idea. You have the portable generator in the back.”

“It’s bolted down.”

“Oh, I know, but it might be more secure. Do you want to take the car or the pickup?”

“The car is worn out honey. Jeep brought out that new Rescue last year. We could buy
one of those for you.”

“Are they very expensive?”

“Very.”

“What about the Hummer’s?”

Up to $150 thousand.”

“How about a long bed crew cab pickup with a diesel engine?”

“$50 thousand.”

“That’s more like it.”

“Is that what you want to replace your car?”

“I think so, yes.”

“Do you need help picking it out?”

“It might be fun if I did it by myself.”

“Be my guest. This ought to be interesting.”

52
The only difference between Tom’s pickup and April’s pickup was that hers was 3 model
years newer and a different color. It had all of the same accessories including the extra
alternator and battery, Warn Winch, Kenwood TS-2000 radio and 6 antennas. One an-
tenna was for the Am/Fm radio, one for the Cobra SSB CB, one for the CM 300 and the
other three for the TS-2000. She had a topper, too and the 98-gallon cross-bed fuel
tank. Plus the dealer had given her a Dodge cap.

“I thought you might buy something different.”

“I did, it’s a different color.”

“At least it isn’t flame red.”

“They didn’t have one in stock. Yours is mineral gray and mine is almond pearl.”

“It looks tan to me. Why did you pick that color?”

“The dealer had the vehicle on his lot too long and I got a discount. He could have or-
dered the flame red, but it would have been full price.”

“We’d better teach the kids to drive so they can get their licenses.”

“Samantha already has her permit and Rob won’t be old enough until his next birthday.”

“I can still teach him to drive can’t I?”

“You can teach Sam too. The car had an automatic and the pickup has a manual.”

“I’ll use my truck; the transmission is worn in better.”

And after both Rob and Sam had learned to drive the pickup with the manual transmis-
sion, Tom had it rebuilt. The truck sounded more like a coffee grinder than a truck while
the kids learned. After, it was fine. Fortunately manual transmissions are cheaper to re-
build than automatics. Tom also had the injectors cleaned professionally for the first
time. The older pickup perked right up after that.

During June of 2009, the family took a road trip to Yellowstone and the Black Hills using
April’s pickup. They camped out most nights in parks along the way. Some nights when
there wasn’t a park available, they stayed in motels. Sam was on the phone the nights
they were in motels and they were keeping up with the status of the livestock and
Champ. On the way back, they detoured through Denver, Colorado and took I-70 to
Beaver, Utah. Their last stop on this trip was Zion National Park, north and east of St.

53
George. They continued to Las Vegas on I-15 where they picked up US 95 to Tonopah.
They took 6 to Benton, picked up 120 and returned home.

54
 A Family Alone – Chapter 11 – Homecoming

“Did everyone enjoy the trip?”

“It was nice, thanks,” Rob replied.

“It sure is nice to be home,” Sam observed.

“I wonder if Garry remember to weed the garden?” April asked.

“Ask him, he’s standing on the front porch, just getting ready to knock.”

“Hi Garry did everything go ok?”

“Yes sir, Mr. Henson. I fed and watered the livestock, took care of Champ and weeded
the garden.”

“Come into the den for a minute, Garry. I have something for you.”

“Yes sir.”

“Tell me Garry, what are you planning on doing when you graduate from high school?”

“Take a job in Fresno. We take special classes in shop so we can get a good job when
we graduate.”

“What kind of job?”

“Mechanic, Mr. Henson, diesel engines.”

“Here a little something for your trouble. Thanks, Garry. Do you have an employer al-
ready?”

“Yes and no. Several of the shops in town that handle diesel engines hire the best kids
in the class every spring after graduation. I don’t have a job yet, but I’m about 3rd in the
class.”

“What are your intentions concerning Samantha?”

“I thought that once I got myself established and a place to live, I’d come speak to you
about that.”

“Consider it done. April and I approve, provided you are gainfully employed and have a
little something put away.”

“That’s still a year off.”

55
“I know Garry, but a fella sort of likes to know where he stands. Say was your dad in the
Army?”

“Yes sir, 7th Cavalry.”

“I sort of thought so. Your dad has a sense of humor.”

“So your dad gave us permission after I’m out of high school and established.”

“When will that be?”

“Oh, maybe a year. I need to have a place and have something put up so I can take
care of you.”

“That long? I have some money put away.”

“Sam what’s the hurry? We have our whole lives ahead of us.”

“I just assumed that we’d get married when we graduated.”

“You know I love you, it isn’t that. But if I live at home after I start working, I can save
most of my wages and get us a really nice place. It’s not like you’re going to be an old
maid. We can get engaged.”

“When?”

“When we graduate, in a year.”

“And get married the year after?”

“Right, you want to be a June bride, don’t you?”

“Yes, but June in a year, not two years.”

“If I can’t provide for you, we’re going to be in trouble. I see all of those people getting
married a week after graduation. Some of them are divorced a year later. It costs a lot to
live. I help my mom with the grocery shopping. And there’s rent on an apartment, utili-
ties and all that stuff.”

“Maybe I’ll meet someone else and like them better.”

“Better to find out before we’re married than after.”

56
°

“You’d better have a talk with Sam honey. Garry is talking sense and she’s in too big of
a hurry.”

“We got married right out of high school.”

“Yes, we did. And then I went into the Army. It was tough being away from you. I can’t
imagine what it would have been like if I were single. Still, Garry is making sense, isn’t
he?”

“I’ll talk to her. But I’m not sure what to say.”

“I’m sure you will think of something. You could point out that she’d have another year’s
worth of earnings saved. That would make it easier on them when they get started out.
It would also make it easier for us and Garry’s parents to help them get into a house af-
ter a while.”

“I’m sorry Sam, but when Garry and you raised your voices, we couldn’t help but over-
hear.”

“So, you’re saying Garry is right and I’m wrong?”

“I am not. I’m saying that if you work for me for one year while Garry gets established,
you’ll have a lot more money to start with. Tom and I got married out of high school, but
we’d known each other since grade school. That first year was hard, with him being in
basic training, AIT, etc. I know you love Garry and he obviously loves you very much or
he wouldn’t be concerned about making sure the two of you get off on the right foot.”

“What if he meets someone else?”

“Afraid you’ll lose him?”

“Well…”

“If you lose him he isn’t worth having. I really don’t think that is going to happen. Or, are
you afraid you’ll meet someone else?”

“My mom did.”

“After she was married, right?”

“Right.”

57
“Don’t you think it would be better if you had the chance to find out before you got mar-
ried?”

“I guess so.”

“I think that Garry is a real winner and you are very lucky to have met him. He’s more
interested in having you for a wife than as a bed warmer.”

“Oh, mom.”

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“Did she listen?”

“I think so. At least I won’t have to make her a full partner for a year.”

“That might be a good idea. Setting her up in business as a Watkins dealer.”

“Do you really think so? I wonder why I didn’t think of that? Tom, I already have every-
thing mapped out to start her up. It’s a good business for a stay at home mom. I just
have to wait until they get married so I can get her the freshest products.”

“Have you always been one step ahead of me?”

“No. Not until the 5th grade.”

“I wonder what Rob is going to do when he gets out of high school?”

“We won’t have to worry about that for a while. But, I’d imagine that he’ll either go to col-
lege or go in the military.”

“Not if I can talk him out of it. I put in 12 years and that should cover Rob, you and me.”

“There aren’t any wars going on.”

“Not right now there aren’t; but, if the Republicans get the White House in 2012, watch
out.”

“North Korea disarmed.”

“So they claim. The Iranians are strangely silent on the matter. And China bought those
planes from the Russians that India wanted.”

58
“What did you mean by the Iranians being silent?”

“Iran bought 3 of the Kilos from Russia. They also bought several cruise missiles that
were designed to carry nuclear warheads. So, if they were able to develop their own
atomic warhead, Israel would be in trouble. The minute they launched against Israel, the
Israelis would retaliate with their own nukes and the entire Middle East would explode.”

“There hasn’t been any talk like that for a long time.”

“Right, it makes you wonder what’s really going on.”

“What about our Navy?”

“They finished the last Nimitz class carrier, converted those 4 SSBN’s to SSGN’s and
ordered several more Burke class DDGs. I think they have 13 ordered but none com-
missioned. I sort of quit following it.”

“Have you been keeping an eye on the San Andreas and the Long Valley Caldera?”

“Should I? They can’t predict earthquakes. And, we’ll get advance warning if Long Val-
ley is going to erupt. Besides, they’re only talking about pyroclastic flows of 10 miles.”

“That was 600 years ago. How large where they when the caldera was formed?”

“What I read was that the ash cloud ascended about 25 miles. It was blown east by the
prevailing winds. However, much of the ash that was discharged fell back into the calde-
ra, filling it about ⅔ of the way full.”

“And if the wind is out of the east?”

“That’s why we have a shelter April.”

“What about Sam and Garry? What if it blows after they’ve gotten married?”

“Assuming they get married and assuming it erupts, we should have enough advance
notice that they can come here. Garry’s family can come too.”

“What if it blows before they’re married?”

59
 A Family Alone – Chapter 12 – A Seismic Event

“We’ll pronounce them man and wife and invite our new in-laws.”

“I wasn’t joking.”

“Neither was I.”

Seismology (from the Greek seismos = earthquake and logos = word) is the scientific
study of earthquakes and the movement of waves through the Earth. The field also in-
cludes studies of variants such as seaquakes, causes such as volcanoes and tectonic
plates. Earthquakes (and other earth movements) produce different types of seismic
waves. These waves travel through rock, and provide an effective way to “see” events
and structures deep in the Earth. It has long been noted that the 1964 earthquake in
Alaska had a measurable effect on Yellowstone. Which just naturally leads to the ques-
tion, Would the Big One on the San Andreas Fault cause a problem in the Long Valley
Caldera?

The USGS regional office in Menlo Park, California, serves as headquarters for the
Long Valley Observatory. Data from monitoring instruments located in and around the
Long Valley Caldera are sent by radio and satellite telemetry to computers in Menlo
Park where they are automatically processed in real time for immediate analysis by sci-
entists. The computers include an automatic paging system that alerts scientists of sig-
nificant changes in activity 24 hours a day. You didn’t think the seismologists would be
dumb enough to stay in Long Valley, did you? It is 173 miles from Mammoth Lakes to
Menlo Park.

Tremor is a seismic vibration, similar to a volcanic earthquake, but of longer duration

and more continuous than earthquakes of the same amplitude. Volcanic tremor can last
from minutes to days. It may be caused by magma moving through narrow cracks, boil-
ing and pulsation of pressurized fluids within the volcano, or escape of pressurized
steam and gases from fumaroles. A variety of earthquake types can occur at a volcano
that is getting ready to erupt. These include earthquakes caused by rocks breaking
along faults or fractures, termed tectonic-type earthquakes. Another common type is a
long-period or volcanic earthquake. These can occur when bubble-filled magma is on
the move beneath a volcano. The differences between tectonic-type and volcanic-type
earthquakes are so subtle that they can be distinguished only by using seismometers.

Stronger earthquakes sometimes do occur near volcanoes as a result of tectonic fault-

ing. For example, four magnitude 6 earthquakes struck Long Valley Caldera, California,
in 1980, and a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii, in 1975. Both
volcanoes were quiet at the time. The Hawaii earthquake triggered a small eruption at
the summit of Kilauea. No eruption has yet occurred at Long Valley, but the area has
been restless since the 1980 earthquakes. Half an answer is better than none – on the
other hand, they didn’t say that an earthquake couldn’t cause a volcanic eruption, only
that it didn’t. Semantics?

60
The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory is located in existing facilities at the University of
Utah, Yellowstone National Park, and the USGS. The continuously recorded GPS data
are telemetered via radio and satellite links to the University of Utah for recording and
processing. The University of Utah is located in Salt Lake City, about 185 miles from
Yellowstone. Apparently the death of geologist Dave Johnston on Mt. St. Helens on
May 18, 1980 shook up those geologists more than we thought. Mr. Johnson was less
than 5 miles straight north of Mt. St. Helens when it blew up, to the north. And we all
know where Kate Hutton and Lucy Jones hang out, Pasadena. I wouldn’t hang out next
to a volcano either.

“The thing is Mammoth Mountain is on the west side of the caldera, April. I don’t know
that an eruption of the caldera could push to the west of the mountain. The Bishop Tuff
doesn’t extend to the west.”

“What if the wind were in the east?”

“We’d get ash. I don’t believe that’s the biggest danger. The biggest danger would be
the pyroclastic flow.”

“How much ash?”

“Less than you’d think. The eruptions that led to the creation of the 600-year-old South
Deadman Creek Dome covering the area of what is now the town of Mammoth Lakes
with a layer of volcanic ash about 1 inch thick. During those eruptions, the wind first
blew toward the northeast and later toward the southwest. Those eruptions also pro-
duced fiery flows of hot ash (pyroclastic flows). Depending on the wind direction and the
location of an eruption site, future eruptions in the Long Valley area could spread vol-
canic ash over the communities of Mammoth Lakes, June Lake, or Lee Vining.”

“How bad will it get?”

“The very worst is a level 4 Red Alert. Under those circumstances, we will have an ex-
plosive eruption characterized by: An eruption column reaching or exceeding 25 km
above eruption vent(s); a hazardous zone subject to pyroclastic flows or surges may ex-
tend 20 km or more from eruption vent(s); an ash cloud pervades most aircraft flight
paths over the region; and, a heavy downwind ashfall.”

“How do you know?”

“I have a copy of the Response Plan on the computer. You should read it if you’re wor-
ried.”

61
“Just because some scientist wrote a Response Plan we can’t assume that we’ll be
safe.”

“That’s why we’ll gather the family and go into the shelter.”

“You think you have it all figured out, don’t you?”

“No April, I am only speculating. It could be far less than I imagine or far worse. Like I
said earlier, my greatest concern is the pyroclastic flow and we should be outside of that
area. It doesn’t matter because we’re prepared. We have a whole lot of food, fuel, LP,
two vehicles that we garage, a barn for the livestock and, if worse comes to worst, a
means to protect ourselves.”

“I just hope it doesn’t happen in our lifetime.”

“You and I both, honey.”

The Alert levels are Normal (green), Advisory (yellow), Watch (orange) and Warning
(red). They didn’t have long to wait to see if an earthquake would trigger the caldera.
About a month later, in the Parkfield area, and for about 60km along the Fault in either
direction, California experienced a M7.7 earthquake. The caldera barely grumbled. The
earthquake extended from an area east of King City (Bitterwater) on the north to an ar-
ea west of Buttonwillow on the south (Hwy 58). The area was sparsely populated and
deaths and injuries were limited.

The magnitude of an earthquake depends on the length of the fracture, the amount of
displacement and its duration. This was a long fracture, with a minimal displacement
that had a short duration, less than 1 minute. The combination of factors explained what
the magnitude wasn’t higher. The LVO reported a magnitude 3.9 quake as a result and
a few with M<3. Tom and April felt the quake; most of the San Joaquin Valley felt it. This
quake didn’t qualify as the Big One either, that would have been M>8. Even Yellow-
stone reacted with a small swarm of temblors <M 2.5.

This quake was a regular media event. KGO-TV in San Francisco and KABC-TV in Los
Angeles, both channel 7 and ABC affiliates, had the best coverage. With a 500-channel
satellite TV, Tom and April could follow the coverage. An hour into the event, the sta-
tions began to repeat themselves and they quit watching.

The day following his 16th birthday, Tom took Rob to the DMV in Fresno. Rob had tak-
en driver’s education classes in Fresno during the summer, a requirement to get a
learner’s permit if you’re under 17½. He passed the written exam and was issued his
permit. By waiting until Sam was 17½ to get Sam’s permit, April had avoided the driver’s
education class requirement. Sam had passed her driving exam and on her 18th birth-
day would be a fully licensed driver. Rob had to wait 6 months to take his driving exam.

62
°

Tom and April knew Garry’s parents, Dean and Avis from Church. Since it looked like
they were going to end up being in-laws they had them out several times over the sum-
mer of 2009. Dean was impressed with the acreage.

“You generate electricity from the barn roof?”

“Yes Dean, it’s that upgraded thin film stuff. The batteries are in the shelter under the
floor. It cuts down on our electrical usage and we haven’t had to run the standby gener-
ator in quite some time.”

“Shelter? Standby generator? What’s the deal?”

“When we moved here, we experienced several power outages because of ice taking
out the power lines. We put in a 15kw standby generator. I was concerned about being
only 50 miles from Long Valley and used a 60’ section of 10’ culvert to build an under-
ground shelter.”

“I suppose you have an armory full of guns, too.”

“We have a few.”

“Between you and me, Tom, I picked up a M16 from a fella I know in Reno.”

“Dave?”

“Do you know Dave? Damn. Small world.”

“I ordered a M1A and an AR-15 from him a few years back.”

“And probably ended up with a better M1A and an M16.”

“How did you know?”

“Dave doesn’t deal in many semi autos.”

“So I learned.”

“How many stalls in your barn?”

“Eight.”

“Do you board horses?”

63
“We haven’t no. We just have the 4 saddle horses and a beef we’re fattening to butch-
er.”

“I need to find someone different to board our horses. They jacked the rates again and
I’m not going to pay $100 a month per horse.”

“We could probably do it for half of that, but we only have 4 empty stalls.”

“That’s perfect, we have 4 horses. Interested?”

“It would give Rob a source of income, sure.”

“Garry talked to Avis and me. He wants to marry Samantha, but apparently you and he
already talked about it.”

“We had a word or two. Garry’s a fine young man. I suggested that he get his feet on
the ground before they took the plunge. I also told him that April and I approved of the
marriage.”

“He told us Sam was pushing him to get married right out of high school.”

“Not any more. April had a word with her. She’s going to work in the Watkins business
for one year after graduating to save of money for when they get married. April is going
to set her up as a Watkins dealer.”

“Did you have any damage from that earthquake?”

“No. Did you?”

“A few things came off a shelf. I put them back with earthquake putty. I half expected
Long Valley to react more than it did.”

“It didn’t, but Yellowstone did, a little. April and I were discussing what we’d do if the
caldera ever erupted. I want you to know that you and your family can always come
here. We have ample food stored and the shelter is quite large. Besides, if we board
your horses, it only makes sense for you to come here.”

“I appreciate that Tom. Can I get a look at your shelter?”

“You have that place set up for a nuclear war!”

“I do yes.”

64
 A Family Alone – Chapter 13 – A Second Shelter

“I used the patterns I got from Utah Shelter Systems. All of the hardware came from
them. I put in bunks because I don’t believe we’re in any danger from direct blast ef-
fects. They claim the shelter is big enough for 50 people, but I wouldn’t want to try it.”

“I noticed you only have 4 bunks. How much did it cost you to put the shelter in?”

“I don’t really remember maybe a few thousand for the culvert and about six thousand at
USS. I welded on my own end plates and installed my own floor. Of course the batteries
were expensive. I didn’t follow all of their recommendations. They suggested not using
propane, but I put in a propane stove and propane refrigerator with extra venting and
extra blast valves.”

“Hmm. Would there be room for Avis and I to construct a shelter?”

“Yes, of course. It would have to be at least 10’ away from ours, but we could connect
the two with a 6’ oval corrugated pipe. What do you have in mind?”

“Something about the size of yours. If I got the materials, would you be interested in
helping me finish it?”

“I can do the welding and give advice.”

“I’ll talk to Avis about it. We were thinking about putting a shelter in the backyard, but if
Fresno were hit, it might all be over before it started. Would I need a generator too?”

“No. Ours is 15kw, like I told you. The shelter is mostly 12vdc. When we had an electric
hot plate I used a heavy-duty inverter. I probably should have put a freezer in the shel-
ter, but at the time, it didn’t occur to me. It’s in the basement and is secure.

“Do you think that there is much chance of a war?”

“Probably not. You never know with those Iranians, however. It doesn’t matter, so long
as your shelter is built to the same specs as ours.”

“I might put a freezer in ours. Not a big one, but something large enough to store some
meat and veggies. I don’t see us running out here every week to get food. We probably
rotate the food on a monthly basis. Do you shop as Costco too?”

“There, Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club. We store some bulk items in 6-gallon pails with oxy-
gen absorbers we get from a place in Idaho. They sell long-term storage foods, if you’re
interested.”

“Walton Feed? We’ve been buying from them for a long time. We have enough of their
deluxe 1-year survival food deals to feed the family for a year.”

65
“Most people would think we’re crazy.”

“April and you or the 4 of us?”

“Both. Either. There are a lot of sheeple in California.”

“The People’s Republic? It wasn’t always that way you know.”

“When did it change?”

“It started in the 1930s. Then when Prop 13 came along in ‘73, everything went to hell in
a handcart.”

“Are you going to wait until next spring to do your shelter? We’d only have about 6
weeks to get it closed in before it snows.”

“If you can make a list of what I need, I think we could start immediately. But only if
you’re sure it wouldn’t be a problem with our having a shelter on your property.”

“I have everything associated with the construction of our shelter in a file folder in my
desk. After we eat, we can pull the folder and make you a list.”

“What was that all about?”

“April, Dean and Avis are going to put in a shelter next to ours. I dug out the file folder
and showed him what he would need.”

“That should cheer Sam up. If Garry’s family has a shelter next to ours, maybe she’ll re-
lax a little. We need to take Rob shopping; he’s out of his clothes again.”

“Buy them big, maybe they’ll last longer.”

“I do. He’s almost full-grown now. You’ll be taking him for his driver’s exam after
Thanksgiving. Do you think we need to think about getting the kids vehicles?”

“Not before they have full driver’s licenses. Sam will be 18 in January. I suppose we
could look for something for her.”

“We probably ought to look for a good used diesel pickup. If she gets going on the Wat-
kins business, she’ll need a delivery truck.”

“I could buy a new truck and give her mine.”

66
“The new models are out; do you want to go shopping?”

“What made you buy a flame red pickup?”

“The price was right. I’ll call tomorrow and make an appointment to have the fuel tank
and the winch installed. Either Sam has to get a ham license or we’ll have to pull the
Kenwood.”

“I’ll get both Rob and her started studying for the exam. How about when Rob is old
enough, we give him my pickup and buy me a new one?”

“I suppose. Yours should be broken in by then. Let’s talk about the Owens some more.
Are you really ok with them putting in a shelter?”

“If they did, it wouldn’t be so crowded in our shelter if we ever needed to use it. Did I
hear you and Dean talking about horses?”

“They have 4. He said that the place they boarded them raised the rates and he was
looking for a new place. I thought it would give Rob a chance to earn some money. It
only costs about $25 a month to feed a horse, at least when you buy in bulk. So Rob
would get an extra $100 a month for his savings account. It wouldn’t take him much
longer, but if he doesn’t want to do it, I’ll do it.”

“The lowest boarding rates are about $75. Perhaps you should charge him $60 a head.
He’d still be money ahead, wouldn’t he?”

“I didn’t give him a firm price April. I just told him about half. I’ll suggest $60, but if he
won’t go for it, it will have to be $50.”

“You had better talk to Rob about it too. He’ll be the one doing the work.”

“Rob, the Owens’ have 4 horses and are looking for a place to board them. We have 4
extra stalls and I was wondering if you’d be interested in picking up a little extra money.”

“Feeding, grooming, like that?”

“Whatever boarding would entail. You could keep the money in excess of the cost of the
feed. April and I talked it over and she suggested maybe $60 a month. Feed costs
about $25 a head so you’d be clearing about $140 a month.”

“Dad, that’s fine, but I have a question. What am I going to do when I graduate from
high school? Garry is learning diesel engine mechanics at his high school.”

67
“What do you want to do?”

“Maybe a Deputy Sheriff?”

“Have you looked into it?”

“I think I’d be better off with 2 years of junior college first.”

“You might want to talk to that Detective, Deputy Martin.”

“Ok, next time we get to Madera.”

“Call him and make an appointment, I’ll drive you in.”

“Sure, anytime?”

“Whenever he has the time.”

“Actually what we could use the most of at the moment is candidates for our Tactical
Medical Response Team. I could set you up to talk with Deputy Dan Jackson, if you
want. He started the program when he was a Reserve Deputy in 1993. I can tell you
that tactical medics are specially trained health care providers (physicians, nurses, par-
amedics and EMT’s) that provide care to tactical law-enforcement teams. Most of the
time, these “medics” are employed or affiliated with a public service agency. For exam-
ple, city fire department paramedics providing support to the city police SWAT team, a
private ambulance company that provides paramedics to the Sheriff’s Department’s
SWAT team through a mutual agreement or a law enforcement agency that has its own
medics (some federal and state agencies).”

“Thank you, I’d appreciate that Detective.”

“Are you still fostered by the Henson’s?”

“We’re adopted. They’re our parents now.”

“Good. Let me call Dan and see if he has time to see you now.”

“Rob, there are several different training programs offered throughout the state. The
Counter Narcotics Tactical Operations Medical Support (CONTOMS) course travels
around the United States throughout the year. This is an excellent school and very rea-
sonably priced. The Specialized Tactical Medical Training Program is offered at the

68
H&K International Training Center. This organization has a long history of providing ex-
cellent tactical training to law-enforcement personnel. You need to complete Paramedic
training first. Then, if we have a vacancy, we could bring you aboard and you could get
your law enforcement training. The H&K classes cost about $1,000 each. It’s a long
tough road to hoe.”

“Where would I get Paramedic training?”

“You could go to the Fresno City College Training Institute. You’d need to attend EMT-B
training and get some experience. Then you could attend the police academy and take
paramedic training. It would probably take you about 4 years, all together. First you
have to finish high school.”

“Thanks for the information. I’ll look into Fresno City College.”

“What did you learn, Rob?”

“They have opportunities for people who are paramedics and have been through the
police academy at Fresno City College. It would take me about 4 years, all together.”

“That’s a substantial time commitment. If that’s what you think you want to do, your
mom and I will help anyway we can.”

“I’ll need to see some people at the college someday when we’re in Fresno. No rush, I
have to finish high school first. I think I’ll take care of Mr. Owens’ horses for now.”

“If you want to, I can teach you to weld. The Owens’ family is going to put in a shelter
next to ours.”

“Neat. Ok, you can teach me, I’d like to learn how to weld.”

Dean Owens had a contractor on the acreage on the following Tuesday putting in the
hole for the shelter. The contractor also excavated a trench for the 6’ tunnel to one end
of Tom and April’s shelter. Dean had a man cut a hole for the connecting tunnel into the
plate that Tom had welded to one end of his and April’s shelter. The hole was finished
on Thursday and the corrugated culvert delivered and set in place with a crane on Fri-
day. The heavy ⅜” metal end caps were also delivered and set in place by the crane
and Tom tack welded them in place after Dean had several things, like a freezer, etc.
set inside.

69
 A Family Alone – Chapter 14 – A Very Busy Fall

A freight company delivered the LUWA system and the things Dean had ordered from
USS the following week. And on Tuesday of the same week the horses arrived for Rob
to start taking care of. It appeared that when Dean Owens decided to do something, he
was all business. The freezer was a new freezer from Costco, still in its shipping box. It
took about 20 yards of crushed rock for the lower portion of the shelter. In case anyone
is wondering the circumference of the shelter is 31.4’ and there were 2 end plates or
about 63’ feet of welding, more than enough for Tom to teach Rob welding. There were
also the entrance and exit tunnels to weld into place plus the connecting oval tunnel. By
the time everything was welded in place using Tom’s Mig welder, Rob was somewhat
accomplished.

It took until the first snowfall to get the Owens’ shelter finished, the tunnel installed and
backfill the hole. Dean Owens moved his survival food and even a gun safe. He filled
the freezer with repacked meat from Costco. The only thing that Dean had that Tom and
April didn’t was radiation equipment from Radmeters4U. Tom got the address from
Dean and bought the package deal and extra potassium iodide and dosimeters. Dean
had one of those CD V-717s and Tom figured the radiation level wouldn’t be any differ-
ent 10’ away and bought a CD V-700 instead.

The horse boarding was working out well for Rob. It also gave Garry an excuse to visit
with Sam. They were in their senior year at school and were thicker than thieves. It was
all very proper, but the handholding had Rob laughing most of the time. Sam was now
comfortable with the idea of waiting a year after they graduated to get married. Perhaps
she was counting the money she might earn during that year and all of the things she
could buy with it.

On one occasion when Dean came out to rotate the meat in the shelter, Tom went
along and Dean showed him what he had in his gun safe. He basically had everything
Tom had, in threes. The other set was kept at home, he explained. Dean didn’t have the
Russian shotguns – he had the Italian SPAS-15s. He had M1As, M16A3, M1911s and
Ruger 10/22 rifles. He had more ammo than Tom and none of the 12-gauge was Tacti-
cal ammo. It was 2¾”, but 12 pellet 00 Buck and Brenneke slugs.

Like Tom and April, Dean and Avis packed their meat in vacuum bags with the date
noted. The upright freezer was only about half full, making it easier for Dean to rotate
the food. He said that Tom and April could add food from their freezer if TSHTF, not that
he expected it to. The winter of 2009-2010 was worse than usual and a couple of
months Dean didn’t make it to the acreage. Tom and April lost power a few times but
there was enough energy stored in their batteries that the generator never even kicked
in. It was so bad that the teacher from school wasn’t even able to make regular home
visits putting Sam and Rob in the position of taking several tests at once.

One would have thought the world ended when Garry wasn’t able to make his regular
visits and they had to skip Church 2 Sundays in a row because of the roads. Sam was

70
beside herself; isn’t love grand? Sam and Rob no longer talked about their natural
mother. They hadn’t brought up their father since Tom had been forced to kill him, a fact
that still bothered Tom. The man had said he had a gun and where is it written that you
have to let the other guy shoot first? It was probably the fact that the guy was bluffing
and Tom had been forced to use a throw down that bothered him more than anything.
And all these years later Detective Martian still thought about that shooting. There was
something about it that bothered him, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. “Mr. Henson,
the Deputy retrieved a revolver from the man you shot.” BTW: Robert Blake had gun-
shot residue on his shoes.

It was finally graduation day for Samantha and Garry’s class. Sam was rather surprised
when Garry didn’t ask her to marry him after her graduation. She fretted but that didn’t
change the fact that he hadn’t asked. The following day, after Garry’s graduation cere-
mony, he proposed. He even had the obligatory diamond engagement ring. They set
their wedding date for a year to the day from when Garry proposed, Sam had only
agreed to wait one year. Thank God 2010 and 2011 weren’t leap years; the extra day
would have surely killed her.

But wait, this story started in the late 1990s and we’re into the second decade of the
new century without any unknown disaster. No one in the Fresno area was hurt by the
temblor on the San Andreas. And here we are with 2 10’x60’ shelters, connected no
less. Oh well it isn’t time – yet. China by now has probably bought all of the Backfire C
bombers that India couldn’t afford. There is no rule that says that just because you’re
prepared something has to happen. On the other hand I believe there is a rule that says
if you aren’t, the crap will hit the fan. After Oklahoma City, I thought we’d seen the end
of terrorists in the United States. Dumb me. Did you know that the US government shot
down Flight 93 with a ray gun of some kind on 9/11? I read that on the Internet, so it
must be true.

“I thought maybe you would like to start a Watkins business in Fresno, Sam. Tom had
the same idea.”

“Would I be cutting into your sales?”

“No, I’d be your distributor, so I still make a little. I could get you all set up with fresh
products about the time the two of you get married.”

“I suppose we could set a bedroom aside to store an inventory.”

“You won’t have that much. I’m only 35 miles away and rather than keep a lot on hand,
you could call me if you ran short or come out here. Are you getting along with Tom’s
old pickup ok?”

71
“Is that why you gave me a pickup rather than a car? So I could deliver Watkins prod-
ucts?”

“I assumed that you might set up your own website. You can use ours as a pattern and
just change the name and address information. You don’t have to sell Watkins if you
don’t want to. Or if you do, it can be as fulltime or part-time as you’d like.”

“If you want to take my orders when I’m fat and pregnant, I guess it would work out.”

“Have Garry and you talked about how many children you’d like to have?”

“We’ll start off with one or two and go from there. I don’t want more than one child in di-
apers at a time.”

“That might be a good idea. Learn from the first and apply what you learn to the second.
Have you looked at dresses yet?”

“I looked in Penny’s; they have a nice wedding shop. I don’t want to spend a lot of mon-
ey on a dress I’m only going to wear one time. Garry’s new job is working out well. He’s
taken some extra classes at Fresno City College and might get a raise soon.”

“Saving a lot of money is he?”

“His parents aren’t charging him rent so the only expense he has is gas for his pickup.”

“Tell him to take gas out of our tank. We need to use the gas, we don’t have anything
that takes gasoline anymore and once the tank is empty, we’re going to refill it with die-
sel. Dean’s vehicle is also diesel and if they ended up here in the shelter, he’d be better
served if we had all of the compartments filled with diesel.”

“Do you still think that someday we’re going to have a disaster, mom?”

“I hope not, but Tom and I have been prepared for almost 15 years. Gas prices could
shoot off the scale. We’ve had enough power outages over the years to pay for that
generator just in the meat we didn’t lose. The horses are to ride, but they’re also an al-
ternate form of transportation. Not that I’d look forward to riding all of the way to Fresno,
but we have them for fun and possible need. I suspect that Tom will give you all of the
weapons he has for you that he hasn’t specifically given to you. Dean will probably do
the same thing for Garry, once you’re married.”

“Dad’s really the gun nut, isn’t he?”

“Better to have them and not need them than to not have them and to need them. That’s
why we taught you and Rob to shoot. A gun isn’t any good to you if you need it and
don’t know how to use it. I think that Tom plans to give you his Fort Knox gun safe.”

72
“What is he going to use?”

“What he always used before he got the gun safe, a locking office cabinet. It was only
important to have a gun safe when there were youngsters around. He’s already moved
most of our guns to the cabinet in the shelter. The only guns he has in the safe at the
moment are yours and Rob’s.”

“Why didn’t Dad get everyone get a fancy rifle. You know, like a M1A match rifle?”

“Tom could never shoot that well. He never bought a firearm that he couldn’t get the full
benefit of. He’s straining to shoot 500-yards with the Super Match. It’s like we taught
you, the handgun is your up-close weapon, the shotgun is your mid-range weapon, the
assault rifle is good for 100-300 yards and the battle rifle to 500-yards. Now whether
you choose to use the Vaquero or the Colt Commander is up to you. The Commander is
a lot faster to reload. The .45 Colts are mainly for when you’re riding.”

“How much food should we keep on hand?”

“I don’t think that you would want to keep more than a month’s extra food. If there’s a
problem, we expect Garry and you to come here. If you have too much, it will be a prob-
lem moving it.”

“What about a standby generator?”

“We’re going to give you our portable. We don’t really use it much anymore and you can
mount it in the back of the pickup where Tom had the mounting brackets. All you need
is an extension cord and we have plenty of those.”

“What about my bedroom furniture?”

“Would you like to take it with you to have furniture for a spare bedroom?”

“If we have the room, yes.”

“Ok, after you get a permanent place, you can haul it to town.”

“What are you studying, Rob?”

“Biology, Dad.”

“That will be an important subject if you’re going to be a Paramedic.”

73
“It seems like it takes forever. First I have the EMT-B training then a year on an ambu-
lance or something. After that, it Paramedic training and finally the Police Academy.”

“You’re going to have people lives in your hands and whether you become a Fireman
Paramedic or a Sheriff’s Paramedic that will never change.”

“I don’t want to be a fireman. I don’t really like fires. They’re dangerous.”

“So are firearms. A Fireman probably has it safer than a Deputy Sheriff. What made you
want to be a Deputy anyway?”

“Abused children. What happened to Sam and me wasn’t right. I might not be able to
make a difference, but I sure can try. That was why I was interested in the Madera
Sheriff’s Department; they have that Child Safety and Protection Program. No one
should have been put in the position you were put in.”

“What do you mean?”

“My dad didn’t have a gun. He was scared to death of them. He just said that to scare
you away. You did what you had to do and protected us. But you were really in a spot. I
saw you out of my window put the gun in his hand and fire that shot. You didn’t have
any choice and you didn’t know that he didn’t have a gun. What happened that you shot
without warning him?”

“Military training, Rob. It’s not so much shooting first and asking questions after, but
when someone tells you he has a gun, instinct sometimes takes over. You dad was in a
shadow and I couldn’t really see. Champ was pulling on his leash and I couldn’t aim my
flashlight. So, I took him at his word and shot center mass, just as I was trained. Then
when I saw that he didn’t have I gun, I took an old revolver that I won in a poker game in
1994 and put it in his hand and fired off a round. I probably shouldn’t have done that,
but all I could think of was not being around for April, Sam and you.”

“I’ll never tell anyone, you know that don’t you?”

“I really wouldn’t be looking going to prison but once I did that stupid thing I lost whatev-
er credibility I had.”

“Sam knew about dad too. They didn’t question me, only her. She backed you 100%.
Who was I to say any differently?”

“Considering your age at the time, that was a carefully reasoned decision.”

“No it wasn’t, I didn’t want to end up in another foster home that might or might not have
been as good as the home we were. I was just being selfish.”

74
 A Family Alone – Chapter 15 – June Wedding

Garry and Samantha started looking for an apartment in April. They didn’t know how
long it would take to find something decent and didn’t want to put it off until the last mo-
ment. The closer they got to the wedding, the more things they had to arrange. They
found a nice 2-bedroom in a good neighborhood that was being vacated at the end of
May. The manager said the apartment would be cleaned and have a new coat of paint.
The carpet would be shampooed or replaced as required, probably shampooed. They
filled out the application and plunked down the deposit. They wouldn’t need to pay first
and last until they moved in. It was the typical deal, first and last month and a security
deposit equal to a third month’s rent.

Samantha already had her dress and the final fitting was scheduled in May, just in case
any final alterations were required. Garry asked Rob to be his Best Man and Sam asked
Garry’s sister, Shelly, who was only a year younger than she to be the Maid of Honor.
Sam was sort of stuck on whom she could ask; she hadn’t attended regular high school
and made lots of friend. Garry didn’t have that problem, but they were planning on a
small ceremony with only family in attendance. They were going to be married at Grace
Lutheran. Since the kids were long time attendees and had joined the Church, the Pas-
tor had an entirely different idea. He pigeonholed Dean, Avis, Tom and April and sug-
gested that they have a Reception in the Church facility and the Ladies Auxiliary handle
the luncheon.

Image the kids’ surprise when half the church showed up for the wedding, the Pastor
had been busy. Tom and April were paying for the reception and the Church Ladies
gave them the best price they could. Most of the food was donated and the small
amount they cleared on the Reception was going to a worthy cause. It ended taking 2
pickups to haul all of the gifts to the apartment after the reception. Samantha hadn’t had
invitations or thank you cards printed, so April made a run while the kids were on their
honeymoon in San Francisco and picked up a large stack of thank you cards from a
Hallmark shop.

Dean slipped Garry an envelope in addition to the wedding gift. He covered the cost of
the hotel and food for their Honeymoon, and a little extra (the envelope contained 25
$100 bills). Garry and Sam were going to stay at the Hotel Triton across from the en-
trance to China Town. It was about $140 a day plus tax. Not the most expensive hotel
by far. However, the hotel had a reputation for its interesting decorating scheme (I al-
ways stay there and you may spell interesting-weird-and-free-wine-every-night). The
adjacent restaurant – Aioli-Cafe de La Presse – has a very good, moderately priced
menu (Mediterranean 7/10). The same owners have a very good steakhouse about a
block away. They visited Ghirardelli Square, Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39, the Cable
Cars, Chinatown, Cliff House and Coit Tower. They didn’t mind when it rained, either.

When they got back, Sam told April that they were leaving the bedroom furniture until
later. They did take the rest of Sam’s clothes, the gun safe and the Watkins products.
Rather than 2 websites, April’s website now listed 2 locations and 2 phone numbers.

75
That worked out better because April’s Fresno customers called the Fresno number and
most everyone else called the old number or simply bought off the website. Sam had a
thriving business in no time and without Sam to help, April had all she could handle, oc-
casionally drafting Rob. Tom still delivered the orders to UPS. Not long after they re-
turned from their honeymoon it occurred to Sam that she was late. When she missed
twice she went to the doctor and confirmed the obvious, she and Garry were expecting.

“Already? That was quick.”

“Well, it rained a lot when we were on our honeymoon.”

“Congratulations honey. You seem to have a fair amount of Watkins business.”

“You are going to take it over when I can’t handle it aren’t you?”

“I said I would. It will only be temporary and you’ll still have your profits. I still get my
small percentage so it’s no big deal.”

“It sure is to us. We’re saving for a house. Garry’s boss gave him the raise too, so we
might be able to get into a house a little sooner.”

“Did you get all of the thank you cards sent?”

“Yes and we did the gift exchanges, we don’t really need 3 toasters.”

“It seems to always happen that way. That’s why the sellers give you a special gift re-
ceipt. It doesn’t show the price, but once you pick out something different, you know. Do
you have a good doctor?”

“I just used the one we’ve always used. He did say something about an ultrasound and
possibly an amniocentesis later on.”

“The ultrasound is probably a normal procedure under certain circumstances, but you
won’t have an amniocentesis unless he finds something wrong in the ultrasound. He
may not even do the ultrasound unless there are any risk factors. I’ll bet he was simply
warning you of possibilities, and not defining tests he will run.”

“Why couldn’t you have children?”

“Fell off a horse when I was about 13 and injured myself. But, it worked out because we
got you and Rob. You have Tom to thank for that, we’d given up trying to adopt and
then he suggested possibly adopting older children. A couple of months later, the two of
you were here.”

76
“I’m sorry about my dad. I think that it still bothers Tom. My dad was such a dork, but he
was my dad, right up until he began laying his hands on me. Then he became just an-
other piece of crap drunk. Sorry for cussing.”

“It does bother Tom, but he tries not to show it. The thing about it was that the .45 went
off first and the .38 second.”

“I thought so, but I wasn’t going to say anything. My dad was afraid of guns. I think that
Rob has known all along exactly what happened. We should just forget about it, it’s over
and done with. Sometimes I wonder about my birth mother, but she made her bed. It
wasn’t like she couldn’t protect us. She was just more interested in not being around.”

As it turned out Detective Martin was scheduled to retire. He didn’t like loose ends and
that shooting had always bothered him. He started digging out records that they hadn’t
examined before. He discovered that the deceased had more than one conviction for
child abuse; apparently he’d been married before. He also learned that the man had a
medically identified phobia, of guns. He stopped looking and put the files away. A month
later he retired. He attended Sam and Garry’s wedding. Sam was a beautiful bride and
quite the young woman. He said hi during the reception to Sam and Garry and even had
a nice wedding gift for them, a toaster. Sam only vaguely remembered the face so she
said hi back and promptly forgot about it. She assumed that it was probably someone
Garry knew. It was when she was making out the thank you cards that she put 2 and 2
together. She didn’t say anything to Tom or April.

Martin figured that 98% of what Tom told him was true. The other witness statements
bore it out. He assumed rightly that the man had threatened Tom with a gun he didn’t
have and when Tom had defended himself, he learned the awful truth. So Tom must
have used a throw down. The thing that bothered Martin about the Colt revolver was
that it had been found in the dead man’s hand. If he had been standing up when he was
shot, he would have dropped the gun. Martin was totally certain that a jury would have
found the homicide to be justified given the circumstances – his curiosity was sated.
Those two youngsters had turned out well, one was married and the other interested in
becoming a Deputy, possibly even a Paramedic. Sometimes it didn’t pay to stir the ash-
es. The DA had been satisfied so what the hell. Tom Henson had never been the
source of a single call, other than the one where he defended his family.

With another member of the family on the horizon, Tom and April had to adjust their in-
ventory slightly. Mankind hadn’t always used disposable diapers. They were, April dis-
covered, expensive and came in lots of sizes. Plain cotton diapers came in one size and
were recyclable as rags or cleaning cloths. They needed accessories in the form of pins
and a diaper covers. A search of the Internet revealed that doctors considered infant
formulas to be the next best thing to breast milk. There were several brands, but they

77
didn’t vary much. Before Gerber, people made their own baby foods so April held off on
those. There was a food processor and a blender in the shelter.

Dean had gone all electric in his shelter. He wasn’t convinced that the propane stove
and propane powered refrigerator were good ideas. USS recommended against using
propane appliances. He had persuaded Tom to replace his propane units with electrical
units when they had the shelter open to hook in the connecting tunnel. Tom put the pro-
pane stove in his storage building and hooked it and the refrigerator up for possible use
in canning and to store extra foods. They also had another problem to deal with – the
barn was crowded.

“Where did you get your barn?”

“San Bernardino.”

“Can it be expanded, or should I think about a barn of my own? I have a mare in foal
and you’re leaving your feeder outside.”

“I think you should talk to them, but we might want to consider something different. It
wouldn’t be practical to expand the current barn.”

“Would you mind if I added another outbuilding to what you already have?”

“Heavens no. But that barn ran about 30 grand. Are you sure you want to invest that
kind of money?”

“Maybe I could put in some kind of pole building. I’ll talk to them and get some ideas.”

“Did you decide what you’re going to do?”

“Yeah, I going with the same type of barn that you have. There are several reasons
Tom, but first and foremost is the fact that April and you have a very nice looking acre-
age here and I don’t want to ruin the aesthetics. If we had a disaster of some kind our
animals would need protection. Those roofed corrals wouldn’t quite cut it. By the way,
did you run a tunnel to your barn so you could care for the livestock during a disaster?”

“It never occurred to me.”

“Why don’t we put the new barn in over there and connect them to the shelters with
some more of the 6’ oval corrugated pipe?”

“How are you managing to pay for all of this? It’s none of my business but you put quite
a bit into your shelter and now an expensive barn?”

78
“Avis and I have been saving for years. We doubled our house payment and paid it off
in 7 years. She always worked, you know. By that time it was second nature to scrimp
and save so we started socking away money for the kids’ education. Garry didn’t want
to go to college, even though we had enough put away to pay for it. I’m not so certain
that Shelly wants to go to college either. The shelter and the barn are coming out of the
money we put away for Garry’s college. It’s still an investment in his future, in a way.
And what doesn’t get spent will go to him and Sam when we’re gone.”

“Go for it and I’ll help connecting the tunnels to the barns. I’ll probably need to cut a hole
in the slab of our barn, but you can leave a spot when you pour your slab. Have you
given any thought about who would be where if we used the shelters?”

“I thought that Rob could stay with us and Garry and Sam with you or Shelly could stay
with you and the kids stay with us.”

“Either would work, I suppose. April bought some cotton diapers and things. I think she
also bought some infant formula in powder form.”

“We probably nuts, you know Tom. All of this money invested in being prepared and no
reason to expect a disaster. But I sleep well at night knowing that we have someplace to
go, just in case.”

“Dean if we weren’t prepared, we’d be up the creek if something did happen. April and I
have never regretted being prepared. That generator kept us in lights many times.
We’ve eliminated the gasoline from our fuel tank and all 4 compartments are diesel
now. We kept Garry in gas while he was coming out here visiting Sam.”

“You’ll need gas for your chainsaws.”

“True, but I would never use up 4,500-gallons. I put a farm tank back in and we have
500-gallons if we need it.”

“I didn’t see any new tanks.”

“Underground tank and it’s connected to the gas pump.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you, how large is that stack of firewood you have?”

“It’s crept up over the years. I started out with about 75 cords, but it’s probably closer to
100 by now. We only use about 5 cords a year so there has to be a 20-year supply.
When we cleared the 40 acres, I sold firewood and it paid for my barn and fence. We
actually have very little invested in this acreage. We got it cheap because of the location
and the timber paid for many of the improvements.”

79
 A Family Alone – Chapter 16 – Baby Paul

“Did you ever think about selling off any property? The way lots are selling these days,
you could make a fortune.”

“In the market for a lot are you?”

“One of these days, maybe. It would be nice to live out here in the foothills. We could
pay a fair price. Avis and I talked about a triplewide mobile home with the desert pack-
age. They had the 6” studs so they’re pretty well insulated. We’d be well off if we did
that, our home would bring about $250 thousand, maybe more. It wouldn’t be much
trouble to commute to work, it’s only 35 miles.”

“When does Shelly graduate?”

“In June. That new baby ought to be here sometime in March.”

“Rob will be a senior and then he’ll be going to school in Fresno.”

“Studying what?”

“He was interested in being a Deputy Sheriff. But he talked to a couple of people in the
Madera County Sheriff’s Department and they have him headed in the direction of be-
coming a Paramedic and a Deputy. Part of their Tactical Medical Response Team.”

“That will take a while.”

“About 4 years. He will have to work for a while as an EMT to get experience.”

“He’s a cute little thing, how much did he weigh?”

“Six pounds ten ounces.”

“As big as she was, I thought maybe she was going to have twins.”

“The doctor must have thought so too. That’s why he did the ultrasound.”

“Dean mentioned a while back that Avis and he were thinking about buying a lot from us
and moving out to the country. If they were to do that, their house might make a nice
place for Garry and Samantha to buy. I don’t know though, to get conventional financ-
ing, they’d have to have $50 thousand down.”

80
“Didn’t you tell me that Dean had a college fund for Garry? If we could make up half of
what they need for the down payment maybe Avis and he could get the other half from
that college fund.”

“I’ll mention it to him. How much has Sam saved over the years?”

“I don’t know how much she has now, but she had over $10,000 when they got mar-
ried.”

“Hi, Mom,” Tom greeted Samantha.

“He’s cute isn’t he?”

“Looks like a little red prune to me.”

“Don’t tease, Tom, the wrinkles go away.”

“I guess this makes me a grandpa, huh? We’re not old enough to be grandparents.
We’re only 44 years old.”

“Shush, Sam might not realize you’re kidding.”

“Nice little boy Samantha, what are the two of you going to name him?”

“Paul John Owens.”

“If you name him John Paul, he might grow up to be the Pope.”

“Not likely Dad, the Pope’s a Catholic.”

“That’s just a complication, some people claim Lutherans are more Catholic than Catho-
lics.”

“I bought some Similac and some cloth diapers, do you need them?’’

“I’m going to try and breast feed him, mom. Don’t throw them away. As far as diapers
go, what do you think, I hear the disposable are pretty handy.”

“They’re cost you up to $800 a child, before you’re done.”

“I take the diapers, thanks.”

“So what do you think, Dean? April and I will sell you an acre for $1,000.”

81
“That’s not much for a lot.”

“It’s just what we paid for the acreage, $40,000 or $1,000 an acre. The house looked
bad and they didn’t include it in the price. Anyway, I don’t know how much money the
kids have, but you could sell Garry the house for your asking price and you and I could
make up the difference for the down payment. April mentioned the college fund you had
for Garry.”

“It might not be a half bad idea, but I’d have to talk to Avis about it. If she’s in favor of it,
we can bring it up to Garry and Samantha. What would I do, put the mobile home on a
slab?”

“You could put in a full basement for maybe $7,500 on a triple wide. You could support
the weight of the home with I-Beams. You might need a row of posts or two, but the
home manufacturer could tell you that; maybe even, the contractor who put in the
basement.”

“Avis says it’s a go. I talked to Garry and he’s in favor of it. We’re getting the house ap-
praised and as soon as we know what its worth, they can apply for a loan.”

“When you find out, let me know so we can come up with our half of the money they’re
short. It will have to be a gift because the bank will want to know if they owe anyone any
money.”

“We already picked out a home. It’s a 2-story doublewide. That should make the base-
ment cheaper.”

“Ought to cut the cost by a third. Did you order it?”

“The dealer had one in stock. We put a deposit on it to hold it.”

“Do you think they’ll have trouble getting a loan?”

“I talked to my banker. He said I might have to cosign, but that isn’t a problem. I think
we’ll go ahead and have the basement put in. You want to take care of the papers on
the lot?”

“Sure, but you’ll want to come out and pick out the spot you want.”

“Be there in an hour.”

“Tom, it looks like the barn will be done in a few more days.”

82
“They’re very fast about erecting them. That’s part of the advantage of prefabrication.”

“Rob can move the horses?”

“Or, I will. Where do you think you want to put your home?”

“We discussed maybe that spot to the east of your home.”

“Right about here?”

“Perfect. What now?”

“I’ll get a surveyor to put in the benchmarks for your lot and we’ll get an abstract creat-
ed.”

“I’ll pay for that seeing how you selling us the land for what you paid for it. I’ll have
someone out in the next day or two. Got the appraisal on the house, $240,000. Garry
says that they have $20,000 so you and I will just need to each give them $14,000. I’ll
use the same realtor to draw up the papers on the land, if that’s ok.”

“I think I’m going to get a nosebleed, Tom. That Dean doesn’t let anything slow him
down, does he?”

“He does get the bit in his teeth. In about 2 weeks, we’re going to have neighbors.”

“That will take getting used to.”

“They’ll be commuting so we won’t see any more of them after they move than we do
now. I told him they could have one of the lines on our T-1. Since Dean and Avis are
putting the thin film on their barn and house and adding batteries to their shelter, we’re
going to be totally independent if trouble arises.”

“What kind of trouble, Long Valley?”

“India bought those Backfires from Russia after all. We could end up with a war in that
part of the world.”

“So, who are you going to vote for tomorrow, Powell or McCain?”

“Powell. I suspect that he’ll ask McCain to be his running mate.”

“Do you think he’ll settle for the Vice Presidency?”

83
“He’d only be a heartbeat away from the Oval Office, wouldn’t he?”

“Beats what we have now.”

“You don’t like John and Hillary?”

“Do you really have to ask? It’s been a disaster; Kerry doesn’t intimidate anyone. Thank
God Bush got us out of Iraq before he left office. Can you imagine what would have
happened if we were still there when John and Hillary took office?”

“Not really. We don’t have as many people in the military as we had in the Vietnam Era.
Powell won’t go to war with anyone, if he could avoid it. And if McCain did end up in the
Oval Office, I doubt he would either. That was the problem with Bush, he never saw
combat. We need to get you the new pickup, too. What color are you going to get?”

“Flame red, the same as yours. What color would you call mine now that Rob repainted
it?”

“Woodland Camo.”

They had given Rob the pickup on his 18th birthday when he’d gotten his driver’s li-
cense. Rob hadn’t done much to the truck except have Garry tune it up, e.g., clean the
injectors, and then Rob had painted it to match their surroundings. Things had really
changed at the acreage. Rob was graduating from high school and Dean and Avis were
building a home. They now had two barns to house 9 horses and one feeder beef. Sub-
ject to Rob’s grades in his final semester, he would be going to Fresno City College in
the summer. He needed to pick up a couple of prerequisites before he could attend
EMT-B classes.

Shelly and her long-time beau had broken it off and she had enrolled in Fresno City Col-
lege to get an AS degree in Criminology with the Law Enforcement Option. She was
halfway through her first year. Of course being home schooled, the only girls that Rob
met were the ones in Church and none of them seemed to attract his attention. Between
the money he’d been socking away from caring for Dean’s horses and the money he
was getting helping April, Rob had a lot of money saved. He’d brought up the subject of
his possibly living at home when he went to school the following year. He suggested
that he’d still have time to take care of the horses, even if he didn’t have time to help
April in the business.

Tom had offered to pay Rob’s tuition for college, up to an amount equal to the gift April
and he had given Samantha, $14,000. Even with the state raising the college fees, the
offer would more than cover all of his expenses. That was an offer Rob couldn’t turn
down.

84
Collin Powell won the primary election in California. John McCain saw the handwriting
on the wall and pulled out of the campaign. According to the polls, Powell was going to
win with a landslide. When Powell invited McCain to be his running mate at the Conven-
tion, he gained 10% in the polls.

85
 A Family Alone – Chapter 17 – The Summer of 2012

Rob’s graduation was well attended. Tom and April were there, Garry, Samantha and
Paul were there and Dean, Avis and Shelly were there. They had a barbeque at the
acreage after the ceremony. Dean asked Rob if he could still care for the horses, the
commuting didn’t leave him a lot of time. Rob told Dean no problem and after the
barbeque Garry, Sam, Shelly and Rob went riding. Rob hadn’t really gotten to know
Shelly, probably because she was a year older, thus the ‘older woman’. It turned out
that Shelly was thinking about become a Deputy Sheriff, either with Fresno or Madera
County. Her goal was Deputy II.

During the summer of 2012, Rob got his prerequisites out of the way and was set to en-
roll in EMT-B class in the fall. It was a fairly short program and from there, he had a job
lined up in Madera working for an ambulance company. Assuming he passed, of
course. But why shouldn’t he, he had a 3.75 GPA? Not bad for someone who had been
home schooled and had worked at 2 jobs the entire time.

During the summer, Long Valley had a few small swarms. That didn’t concern Tom and
Dean nearly as much as the building situation in the Kashmir region. India and Pakistan
were at it once more. The former President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf had
been deposed by a military faction and the new self-declared leader of the Country,
some Colonel no one had ever heard of was far more militant than Musharraf.

The CIA World Fact book still said, “recent talks and confidence-building measures
have begun to defuse tensions over Kashmir, site of the world’s largest and most milita-
rized territorial dispute with portions under the de facto administration of China (Aksai
Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas);
UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) has maintained a small
group of peacekeepers since 1949; India does not recognize Pakistan’s ceding historic
Kashmir lands to China in 1964; in 2004, India and Pakistan instituted a cease fire in the
Kashmir, and in 2005 restored bus service across the highly militarized Line of Control.”

“Pakistan has taken its dispute on the impact and benefits of India’s building the Bagli-
har dam on the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir to the World Bank for arbitration
and in general the two states still dispute Indus River water sharing; to defuse tensions
and prepare for discussions on a maritime boundary, India and Pakistan resurveyed a
portion of the disputed Sir Creek estuary at the mouth of the Rann of Kutch in 2004; Pa-
kistani maps continue to show Junagadh in India’s Gujarat State; by 2005, Pakistan with
UN assistance had repatriated 2.3 million Afghan refugees and has undertaken a cen-
sus to count the remaining million or more, many of whom remain at their own choosing;
Pakistan maintains troops in remote tribal areas to control the border with Afghanistan
and root out organized terrorist and other illegal cross-border activities; regular meet-
ings with Afghan and Coalition allies aim to resolve periodic claims of boundary en-
croachments.”

86
The Fact Book was wrong; hell, it wasn’t even close. Pakistan had stopped looking for
terrorists when Bush had pulled the US out of Afghanistan and Iraq in 2007. Musharraf
had been confirmed to a second ‘official’ term but dissidents within the Country had re-
moved him after a few months and he was presumed dead. Because of Bush pulling
American troops out of Afghanistan, Iraq and Korea, there hadn’t been a single terrorist
event on American soil since. Kerry and Clinton had used that fact to win election in
2008. As the US went, so went the United Kingdom. Blair was out, but that had long
been expected. When the Tories took over Parliament, all of their troops had already
come home.

Iraq, in fact, was in the middle of a civil war that had started as soon as the ‘Collation of
the Willing’ left. You may recall that Tom was concerned about Iran. He should have
been, Russia had gone ahead and helped Iran with its nuclear power plants and while
the Russians got back their nuclear materials, that hadn’t kept Iran was enriching its
own materials. Iran had succeeded in building several atomic warheads for their Rus-
sian cruise missiles. And contrary to what Global Security had suggested, they weren’t
any bigger than the Russian warheads that the missiles were originally designed for.
The Iranians had some help from a Pakistani scientist name Abdul Qadeer Khan.

If the WTC disaster could be attributed to an intelligence failure, imagine how cumber-
some the system became when Bush appointed John Negroponte as his Director of Na-
tional Intelligence. Then Colin Powell and John McCain were elected immediately re-
placed Negroponte with their own man. Several Bush appointees resigned and were
replaced by functionaries who spouted the ‘Company Line’. It can’t be that bad can it?
Well, if the CIA Fact Book was any indication, yes.

Both Long Valley and Yellowstone swarmed off and on during the summer of 2012. Ge-
ologists attributed it to a volcano in Alaska that had produced several notable earth-
quakes. There had been several tsunami scares related to earthquakes but nothing had
ever come of them. The tsunami of December 2004 was still the most recent major tsu-
nami.

For all practical purposes the world was at peace. The UN still had a small force in Bos-
nia/Kosovo, but it was being gradually reduced as more and more nations refused to
send troops to the region. That debacle over the European Union Constitution has seen
Jacques Chirac replaced by Laurent Fabius, a member of the Socialist Party, an as un-
likely candidate as one could ever imagine. In the vote that took place among the mem-
bers of his party on December 1, 2004, on deciding the stance that the party would take
concerning the European Constitution, Fabius was the leader of the defeated ‘no’ camp.
He went on to lead the rebel faction of the PSF advocating a ‘no’ vote in the 2005 May
29 referendum on the European Constitution, and was seen as the spearhead of the
whole ‘no’ campaign in France.

87
Into the fall of 2012, Rob took and completed the EMT-B course, finishing just before
Christmas. He only attended 2 days a week (M/W), leaving him ample time to help April.
He occasionally ran into Shelly on Campus and they’d go to coffee. She expected to be
a Deputy Sheriff by the fall of the following year. Rob told her that it would be just when
he began his Paramedic training. He was talking about a new movie that was coming
out the following week and Shelly said she kind of wanted to see the movie too. Rob
said that that might just as well go together. He didn’t consider it a date because they
were friends. When you are younger than 30, a 1 year age difference sometimes seems
like a lot. Later in life 3-4 years seem like nothing. They went to the movie and out for
coffee after.

After Rob completed EMT Basic, he went to work in Madera and only saw Shelly on the
acreage occasionally. She had started to date another fella and he was busy with work.
About 2 years after they got married, Samantha got pregnant again. She was now an
experienced hand and got the diapers around early, just after she got over the morning
sickness. April covered Sam’s Watkins business until the morning sickness passed and
Garry and Sam were actually 6 months ahead on their loan. Maybe they wouldn’t have
it paid off in 7 years like Dean and Avis did, but they were trying.

Rob continued to live on the acreage and to care for Dean’s and his dad’s horses. In
fact, Rob bought a couple of new ones, Appaloosas. In Europe, the spotted Appaloosa
Horses appear periodically throughout history. The Lipizzaner Horse exhibited the mott-
led skin of the Appaloosa in the 16th-18th centuries. These spots still crop up to this
day.

To North America Appaloosa Horses were introduced by the Spanish explorers. Their
Andalusians often had spotted coats. Indians stole and traded them, and the spotted
horses quickly spread northward. The Nez Perce Indian tribe of Oregon became sophis-
ticated horsemen and selected the spotted breed. These horses were of an elegant
race, lofty and durable. The spots helped to camouflage the horse and the rider, for the
splashy patterns helped to break up the horses’ outline and made it difficult to see from
the distance. Appaloosas with flashy or unusual markings are valued the best.

Indians used the Appaloosa Horse in buffalo hunting and in war. The horses had to
possess strength, speed, courage and intelligence. The white settlers called the horses
“a Palouse horse” after Palose country where Indians lived. Finally it became “Appaloo-
sa.” During the war Appaloosa Horses were the reason the US Calvary was deprived of
victory for many months, because the Nez Perce fled over 1,300 miles of rugged, al-
most impassible terrain. Afterwards nothing was done about these strong, intelligent
Appaloosa Horses, and they were almost diminished to nothing.

Rob bought unrelated horses, a stallion and a mare. However, once he entered Para-
medic school in the fall of 2013, he didn’t have time to ride them. He also bought new
saddles and bridles for the horses. Shelly had finished up school and was a rookie
Deputy with the Madera County Sheriff’s Department. One Saturday, Shelly saw Rob

88
grooming his stallion and offered to groom the mare. The mare was with foal and a little
touchy, but Shelly talked to her and calmed her.

“She’s too far along to ride, but I need to ride my horse, do you want me to saddle up
yours and ride along?”

“I haven’t been riding for a while, that might be fun. That’s my saddle over there.”

“I’ll saddle your mare, Shelly. Are you still dating what’s his name?”

“Rob I didn’t go out with him for more than 3 dates. The man was all over me. No, I’m
not seeing anyone.”

“I sort of miss our coffees but with school, there aren’t enough hours in the day. How do
you like being a Deputy?”

“I love it but my father isn’t at all happy.”

“Why not? It’s an honorable profession.”

“He’s afraid someone will shoot his little baby.”

“I’ve seen you shoot a few times. I don’t believe he has anything to worry about.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere.”

“I wasn’t trying to flatter you, Shelly, it’s a simple fact. You shoot a handgun very well.”

“Want to go to the movies some time?”

“If I can find a hole in my schedule, it would be fun. I did the 68-hour Pre-Paramedic
class in Clovis and now this. It’s a difficult course designed to educate current EMT-B’s
to the highest level of certification within the EMS system, an advanced life support
(ALS) paramedic. It’s an extensive 1,154-hour training program will include 504 hours of
didactic education, 170 hours of clinical internship training, and supervised field-training
experience of 480 hours. After my course completion, I have my clinical internship fol-
lowed by my field training. After that, I have to attend the police academy. If the Sheriff
hires me, then I’ll have to attend the H&K Specialized Tactical Medical Training Pro-
gram. I want to be a member of the Sheriff’s Tactical Medical Response Team.”

“That’s very ambitious.”

“I started out wanting to be a Deputy like you are. Then, Detective Martin referred me to
Deputy Dan Jackson and I got interested in his program.”

“Martin retired, but Jackson is still there.”

89
“Really, where did Martin go?”

“Fishing, I think. How did you know Detective Martin?”

“We had a shooting a few years back. Our father molested Sam. He was convicted but
he escaped from jail and ended up on the acreage. Tom had to shoot him to protect us.
I suppose that’s when I became interested in becoming a Deputy Sheriff.”

“Your dad killed your father?”

“My father said he had a gun and Tom didn’t have a choice.”

“And neither Sam nor you have any hard feelings towards Tom?”

“My father molested Sam and beat me up several times. I’m just sorry it had to be Tom
instead of a Deputy who shot him. The Deputies got held up and didn’t arrive until about
3 minutes after the shooting.”

“We’re back.”

“Hey thanks for riding with me Shelly.”

“Anytime you want to go riding again, just give me a holler. And don’t forget that we
have sort of a date to go to the movies.”

“Riding with Shelly, huh?”

“I needed to exercise my horse.”

“You ought to take her to the movies or something.”

“Mom, we sort of made a date to go to the movies when I can find time.”

“Rob, you need to make time. Shelly is a very nice young lady.”

“Right, she comes complete with her own badge and gun.”

90
 A Family Alone – Chapter 18 – Full Fledged Paramedic

“Did you ever just stop and look at her, Rob? Shelly is very attractive.”

“I noticed.”

Although both Yellowstone and Long Valley rumbled the summer of 2012 and again the
summer of 2013, and most times in between, neither looked like they were going to
erupt. If anything were going to explode, it might be the India-Pakistan dispute; or, Iran.
Russia had accused Iran of producing ‘vast quantities’ of enriched uranium and extract-
ing plutonium to build bombs. The IAEA more or less said, ‘we told you so’. The UN was
becoming a totally ineffective body, not that they’d been worth a damn after the Korean
police action ended.

North Korea had apparently disarmed, again, according to the IAEA. For all of its fum-
bles, under President Powell and Vice President McCain, the intelligence community
was getting its act together, albeit slowly. Of major concern was that fact that North Ko-
rea still possessed ICBMs. Some of them had been sold to Iran. Only a dozen, but the
intelligence community was estimating that Iran had enough nuclear material to produce
as many as 30 nuclear weapons.

Iran had 12 ICBM’s and 12 Russian cruise missiles all armed with nuclear warheads.
Iran also had 6 nuclear bombs. In the interim, Israel hadn’t ever admitted that it had nu-
clear weapons, but current estimates put their total at 700. Apparently Israel had
equipped all of their Jericho II and Jericho III missiles with nuclear warheads. In May
2000, Israel is reported to have secretly carried out its first test launches from two Ger-
man-built Dolphin-class submarines of cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear war-
heads. The missiles launched from vessels off Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean are said to
have hit a target at a range of about 1,500 kilometers [about 930 statute miles]. Israel is
reported to possess a 200kt nuclear warhead, containing 6kg of plutonium that could be
mounted on cruise missiles.

Israel has reportedly developed an air-launched cruise missile that could be operational
by 2002, called the Popeye Turbo. The Popeye Turbo, with a range that is variously re-
ported at between 200 km and 350 km, would appear to represent a turbo-jet powered
cruise missile that may incorporate avionics and other components developed for the
Popeye family of missiles. The AGM-142 HAVE NAP is a variant of the Israeli Air Force
Popeye missile, which uses a solid propellant rocket motor. The Popeye II, also known
as the Have Lite, is a smaller missile with more advanced technology. Designed for de-
ployment on fighter aircraft, Popeye II has a range of 150 kilometers.

The reported range of 1,500 km for the SLCM tested in May 2000 is several times
greater than the previously reported range for the Popeye Turbo. However, the Popeye
Turbo is a poorly attested missile, and the open literature provides little information on
this system. Indeed, because of the small size of the vehicle and the limited testing pro-
gram to date, it is entirely possible that even the US intelligence community has only

91
limited insight into the capabilities of this system. There is no particular reason to doubt
that Israel could develop a variant of the Popeye Turbo with a range of 1,500 km, simply
by lengthening the fuel tank associated with a 300-350 km variant reported by US intel-
ligence. At present it is not possible to determine whether the US intelligence has un-
der-estimated the range of this missile, or whether news reports have over-estimated
the missile’s range. The longer range reported in June 2000 is certainly consistent with
Israeli targeting requirements.

It is generally agreed that these submarines are outfitted with six 533-millimeter torpedo
tubes suitable for the 21-inch torpedoes that are normally used on most submarines,
including those of the United States. Some reports suggest that the submarines have a
total of ten torpedo tubes – six 533-millimeter and four 650-millimeter. Uniquely, the So-
viet navy deployed the Type 65 heavyweight torpedo using a 650-millimeter tube. The
four larger 25.5-inch diameter torpedo tubes could be used to launch a long-range nu-
clear-capable submarine-launched cruise missile (SLCM).

Some reports claim there are two separate missile systems under development, the Jer-
icho 2 with an 800 km range and the Jericho 2B with an extended 1,500 km range. The
range of this missile is frequently reported as about 1,500 km with a 1,000 kg payload,
but other estimates suggest that it is capable of a much longer range.

Following the launch of the first Offeq satellite, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore Na-
tional Laboratory reportedly calculated that the Shavit “could transport a nuclear war-
head a minimum of 5,300 km” if deployed as a ballistic missile and analysts at the De-
fense Department estimated a range of 7,200 km for the missile, with an unspecified
payload capacity. In July 1990, Steve Fetter, a physicist at the University of Maryland,
calculated the payload and range parameters of the Shavit, based on data about the
two Offeq launches provided in the press. He found that if the Shavit were deployed as
a ballistic missile it could deliver a 775-kg payload a distance of 4,000 km, putting the
whole of the Middle East (and a large part of the former Soviet Union) within striking dis-
tance.

The Jericho 1, 2 and 3 are deployed near Sedot Mikha in the Judean foothills, about 23
km east of Jerusalem (and about 40 km southeast of Tel Aviv). The facility is located a
few kilometers to the southeast of Tel Nof air base

“I’m finally done,” Rob told Shelly.

“Done with which part?”

“The hard part Shelly, Paramedic training. Once I pass my exam, it will be official.”

“What exam is that, Rob?” (The year is 2015.)

92
“The National Registry Emergency Medical Technician Paramedic examination.”

“Is it hard?”

“I assume so, but I’ve never taken it before.”

“After that what?”

“Police Academy. And if I’m lucky, a job with the Madera County Sheriff’s Department.”

“You do ok. The rookie year is a challenge, but with all you’ve been through you
shouldn’t have any trouble.”

“Would you like to go out to dinner? I think a celebration is in order.”

“Oh darn, I love to, but I promised Garry and Sam that I’d watch Caroline.”

“If I can cover that, would you like to go?”

“Of course.”

“Mom, Rob. I asked Shelly out to dinner to celebrate my finishing school and she’d go,
but she promised Garry and Sam she’d watch Caroline. You would? Great, thanks
Mom. Ok, Shelly, no more excuses, I’ve got you covered.”

“Let me have one hour to clean up and change.”

“I call and make a reservation.”

“Don’t you need to get cleaned up too?”

“30 minutes tops. I’ll pick you up in one hour.”

“Where are we going?”

“I made a reservation at the Elderberry House in Oakhurst.”

“Hey not bad, it’s rated 9 out of 10.”

“Then you approve?”

Shelly pecked Rob on the cheek. Apparently she did. Rob declined to have anything to
drink; claiming he couldn’t afford to kill any brains cells until after the exam. Rob’s mare
had given birth to a filly and he had bred her again hoping to get a colt. Garry had ad-

93
vanced on his job to a full-fledged mechanic and was working for Powertech Engines.
The dealership sold and serviced a wide range of products including diesel engines,
generators and dozens of products. Garry had received several raises and it appeared
that he might be in for a promotion. Sam’s Watkins business rivaled April’s in volume.
So much so that Sam had become a distributor herself. April and she had divided the
customer base with April taking everyone north of Fresno and Sam taking everyone
south of Fresno. Poor Tom was hauling a pickup load of packages every day and on
busy days was hauling two.

The original herds of horses had been sold off and replaced with younger animals.
Dean and Avis were commuting every day and getting tired of the drive. They were
earning very good incomes and dared not quit although they didn’t need the money. But
when can a person ever have too much money?

It was a spectacular week. Rob got his exam results, he passed, and he completed po-
lice academy. Lt. Dan Jackson had a position for Rob, but he would have to do his rook-
ie year 2015-2016 on patrol. After that he could attend the H&K schools and be consid-
ered for the Tactical Medical Response Team. It had been a long hard journey for Rob.
He had applied himself and his hard work had paid off. When Shelly had given him a
passionate congratulations kiss it had been full on the lips. There were no mistaking
Shelly’s feelings but Rob wanted to get his rookie year out of the way before he got
married. Nevertheless, he proposed and she accepted. They agreed to postpone get-
ting married until he completed the H&K schools.

It is said that the best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men, gang aft agley. Many of us believe
that the expression is: the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray. Close enough
for government work. It appeared that Powell and McCain would get reelected in No-
vember. I’ve always wondered what would happen if, after the election, there were
some kind of National Emergency. Presumably if the same team remained in the White
House, there could be a non-public swearing in ceremony by a federal judge at the loca-
tion where the Incumbent President and Vice-President were located. What would hap-
pen if they didn’t get reelected and the winners of the election got killed? It didn’t hap-
pen, but it is an interesting question.

The answer, of course, is that Congress would determine who the next President was.
Then again the election results aren’t official until the Electoral College issues its ver-
dict, are they? For people opposed to the Electoral College, that might be an argument
to eliminate it. The people have spoken with the popular election. Satisfied? Think back
to 2000 and remember who won the popular election and who became President. (I
liked Dubya; he was sorta in the Air Force.)

94
During the latter months of 2015, the year Rob became a rookie Deputy, the situation
between India and Pakistan escalated. It would eventually be attributed to the new Pa-
kistani leader, but it wouldn’t really make much difference. It wasn’t like nobody saw it
coming either and the DHS had raised the threat level to yellow, then to orange and fi-
nally red. Each time the threat notched up the DEFCON level ratcheted one level high-
er. By the first of December, the US was at red and DEFCON 3. It wasn’t readily appar-
ent who fired the first shot. It was clear who fired the final shots, China, Russia and the
United States in that order.

With the US on red alert, the duties of the various Sheriff’s Departments moved into
high gear. Leaves were cancelled; double shifts became common, etc. Garry and Sam
moved to the acreage and Garry commuted to Fresno. Tom and April double-checked
their supplies and those of Dean and Avis. Tom moved as much of their frozen meat to
the shelter as they could store. They talked with Dean and Avis and got a list of things
they needed to add to their shelter. It only took a single trip to Costco with a pickup and
trailer to get everything. Tom had the fuel tanks all topped off, giving them 6,000-gallons
of propane, 18,000-gallons of diesel and 500-gallons of gasoline. There was time to get
more spare parts for the chainsaws and all of the vehicles.

When they both found a free moment, Rob and Shelly got a marriage license. A friendly
judge waived several requirements and married them in his chambers. Rob had the
standard Tactical Medical Response Team bag plus the equipment he normally carried
as a Paramedic. (The contents are on the Sheriff’s website under the FAQ’s for the
team.) Dissatisfied with those limited preps, Ron spoke to a doctor he knew from the
hospital in Madera. The doctor wrote Ron 6 pages of prescriptions and Ron filled them
from the hospital pharmacy, paying cash. It had taken him 4 consecutive days to get his
money and Shelly 3 days to get hers. Tom called the coin dealer in Fresno and ar-
ranged to convert everyone’s money into gold and silver. Sam did the same with all of
their available cash before Garry and she moved to the acreage.

April temporarily pulled her website eliminating orders that she and Sam couldn’t fill.
That gave her time to estimate how much feed and hay they might require for the hors-
es. She contracted their regular supplier and gave him an order, but suggested that she
might be off a bit and he should bring extra. He brought all that he had and they took
every bit they could cram into the barns, stacking the extra outside and covering it with
plastic. On that final trip to Fresno, Tom also topped off their ammo supplies; replacing
everything they had shot up. He had to take what he could get because there wasn’t
time for the dealer to order the Gold Dot .45ACP. The military surplus 230-grain FMJ
had to suffice. They all know that it wasn’t if, only when.

Iran launched on Israel and Russia; the Israelis bombed Iran back into the Stone Age
and nuked Iraq and Syria for good measure. India and Pakistan had a full-out nuclear
exchange with a few errant missiles landing in China. North Korea nuked South Korea
and Japan. China sent missiles to India, Pakistan, Russia and the US. Russia retaliated

95
against China, as did 4 American boomers. Russia and the US didn’t exchange nuclear
weapons, as that really would have ended the world. However, the US did employ en-
hanced radiation bombs against Saudi Arabia and Libya.

96
 A Family Alone – Chapter 19 – TEOTWAWKI

Fresno, with a population of almost 1 million, attracted someone’s attention. Perhaps

you can’t stop an earthquake with a nuclear weapon, but it was now shown that you
could use one to start one. The San Andreas ruptured between Bitterwater and some-
place in the Pacific Ocean north of San Francisco, perhaps due to the strike on San
Francisco. The Cascadia Subduction zone slipped but didn’t create a tsunami. And fi-
nally, both of the big US calderas began to swarm. They didn’t erupt, but they were
swarming. No one was around to issue a yellow level warning.

“Is everyone here?”

“Rob and Shelly are about 10 minutes out.”

“I sure wish they were here. I don’t like this at all.”

“He said that they were inbound Code 3.”

“All of those fancy medical supplies aren’t going to help us if he isn’t here. I don’t believe
that anyone else has any idea what to do with anything more than a bandage.”

“Relax Tom they’ll make it,” April suggested.

“Has anyone got a TV on?”

“We do,” Dean said. “The country is at DEFCON-1.”

“That’s never happened before so I guess that means we’re launching.”

“We’re here,” Rob called.

“Shut the door, we’re at DEFCON-1.”

The shelter shook violently but it only lasted a second.

“Earthquake.”

“Like hell it was,” Dean suggested, “I think maybe that was a nuke. It was just one ex-
tremely sharp jolt. An earthquake would have lasted longer.”

“Who can say the 23rd Psalm from memory?”

97
“I can,” Dean advised. “Shall we pray? The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…”

The shelter shook a second time.

“Damn, another one.”

“That was further away or a smaller warhead.”

“Here,” Rob said, “All of you take one of these.”

“What is it?”

“Just a little something for anxiety. We need to chill out a little and keep our heads about
us. By the way, Shelly and I got Judge Stevens to marry us this morning in chambers.
Sorry there wasn’t any other way to handle it.”

“The TV is gone.”

“Maybe it was EMP, Dean. We have another TV. It’s an old black and white, but it works
ok.”

“What about the radios?”

“All of the antenna switches are turned to ground. Rob, did you get the radio out of your
truck?”

“It’s right over there.”

“Garry will all of our diesel pickups run?”

“Not if there is EMP. They use computers these days to maximize fuel efficiency.”

“Spare computers are in a metal trunk in the basement.”

“I can probably get every vehicle running that you have the computers for.”

“We need to see what still works and what is shot.”

“The thin film roofs aren’t putting out any electricity. Other than that, we seem to have
everything working.”

“Don’t sweat the roofs. Utah Shelter Systems suggested that they might not survive
EMP. We have extras,” Tom smiled.

“A lot of extras?”

98
“Oh yeah. We can replace both roofs, if we have to. If we don’t, so much the better.”

“Let me go turn on my CD V-717. Wow.”

“What’s wrong Dean?”

“It is already off the scale. That must have been the first nuke and it had to have hit
Fresno.”

“Dang, Rob what were those pills you gave us? My head is swimming.”

“A mild tranquilizer.”

“Don’t give me any strong ones.”

“Are you chilled out now?”

“Chilled? I’m almost petrified. April could you put on some coffee? Please?”

“Sam, you’d better feed the kids. There are some toddler meals in the second storage
cabinet. There is also some formula in there if you need it.”

“Ok Mom thanks.”

“I guess maybe we don’t have jobs to go back to.”

“Dean, if Fresno took a direct hit, it could be several years before it can be re-inhabited.
I’m more concerned about where that second nuke hit. We’d better pray that it didn’t hit
the caldera.”

“What direction is the wind from?”

“The east.”

“What’s the effect of a nuclear weapon?”

“A 1mt weapon will generate 3,000R//hr to a 30 mile radius. The good news is that it
wouldn’t generate much of an overpressure, probably less than 1psi.”

“I guess that explains why the survey meter is off the scale. Assuming we get around
3,000R/hr, how long for it to decay?”

“7 hours = 300R/hr; 49 hours = 30R/hr; 343 hours = 3R/hr; 2,401 hours = 300mR/hr and
16,807 = 30mR/hr. A maximum exposure level is 104mR per hour, but half of that would
be better.”

99
“How long is 16,807 hours?”

“700 days, 7 hours and 2,401 hours is 100 days, 1 hour.”

“So what you’re saying is about a year, right?”

“Two, before we can go topside full time.”

“Shelly and I are going to check on the horses.”

“Be careful.”

“We have a survey meter. What was that stacked by the barns?”

“The extra hay, covered with plastic.”

“This is one heck of a way to spend a honeymoon,” Shelly mused.

“I brought a blanket. Who cares about the horses?”

“Was everything ok in the barn?”

“Everything came out perfectly,” Shelly purred.

“We fed the livestock and the radiation level isn’t too bad. What’s the deal with the hay?”

“Rob, I told him to bring as much hay and feed as he thought we would need. He just
brought everything he had. It wouldn’t all fit in the barns so he stacked it outside as ex-
tra protection.”

The shelters began to shake moderately and it didn’t stop for what seemed like an eter-
nity. It was the San Andreas Fault letting loose, but no one knew it at the time. While it
was possible to assess their immediate situation, it was difficult to get any news. It
seemed as if the second hand on the clock had slowed to a crawl. On the second day
the CD V-717 slipped into its maximum operating range, 500R.

“Dean, did you get the time when the meter came off 500R?”

“About 1700.”

“I’ll put that into my spreadsheet, thanks.”

100
Over the coming days, Rob and Shelly kept a close eye on the horses and moved
Champ to Dean’s barn. The entrances into the barns were ramps, not ladders. Every-
one caught up on their disaster reading, perusing the CD collections that Dean and Tom
had. April finally had time to update their inventory of supplies. During the last minute
rush to top everything off, she didn’t have time. At that moment that’s all she had, time.

The general mood was somber bordering on depressed. One prepares but hopes those
emergency supplies will never be needed. Although Shelly wasn’t a ham operator, she
knew how to operate the radios and Sam and she took turns listening for news. Perhaps
of all the people in those two shelters, the one struck hardest by the events was Avis.
For years, she had humored Dean and his follies. Her entire family lived in the central
valley. At Shelly’s suggestion, Rob put Avis on an antidepressant, Zoloft 50mg QD. De-
cember 2015 passed into 2016.

“What’s the point to hiding in these shelters?” Avis asked. “Everyone we knew is proba-
bly dead and surely Fresno must have been destroyed.”

“Mom, there’s Paul and Caroline to think about and maybe before too long Rob and I
might add to the population.”

“And what? Bring up children in a world gone crazy?”

“It’s the only one we have to work with. Where is your spirit of adventure? We’ll get to
do the late 19th Century over.”

“Where’s the government? Why aren’t they out helping?”

“Mom, Rob and I are government and we’re in shelters. You work for California, or you
did, and you’re in a shelter. Everyone who worked for any government, municipal, state
or federal is in a shelter at the moment. Sam and I aren’t getting much news on the ra-
dios and what news we are getting isn’t good. It may be the end of civilization as we
know it, but it’s not the end of the world. We’re better off than most people, we’re alive.”

“Rob maybe you ought to keep Mom on those tranquilizers.”

101
 A Family Alone – Chapter 20 – After TEOTWAWKI

“Shelly, they’re highly addictive; I don’t think that I should. Your mother will be ok once
we get out of these shelters. Some people are affected badly by not getting sunshine.”

“What’s it going to be like once we do get out?”

“I don’t really know Shelly. This is my first experience with anything like this. If Fresno
did get hit, most of Madera will be gone. Have you picked up any calls on the radio from
the Sheriff’s Department?”

“No, nothing.”

“None of the substations?”

“Them either. Nothing. Bass Lake, Chowchilla, Oakhurst and Ranchos are silent.”

“The Office of Emergency Services was in headquarters. If we’re not hearing from them
and none of the substations are on the air, I have no idea what to expect.”

Ninety days after the attack, Tom and Dean ventured out of the shelters briefly to survey
the damage. None was apparent on the acreage. On their way in, Shelly and Rob had
closed and locked the old gate on the road that led back to the acreage. The back-
ground radiation level was still too high to stay out very long, but lower than expected,
running about 150mR. Dean went back and got Avis. Once she saw that the world
hadn’t ended in the foothills she felt a little better. When the background level fell to
75mR, everyone emerged from the shelters full time. It was the summer of 2017.

The sky was overcast, seemingly permanently. There wasn’t any evidence of volcanic
ash, so they assumed that the caldera hadn’t ruptured. The vehicles wouldn’t start be-
cause the fuel computers were fried and the batteries were dead. Garry had that prob-
lem resolved in 2 days. The livestock was let out to roam, all except for the beef. Once
they dusted the roofs off and replaced a few sections of the flexible thin film PV panels,
they were back to full power. They had used about half of the propane. A drive over to
Mammoth Lakes produced two 3,000-gallon delivery vehicles. They filled the tanks back
up and refilled the one truck they’d emptied. If they didn’t have to run the generators of-
ten, they had enough propane for a long time. It was very cold outside and there was a
lot of snow. Tom borrowed a Cal Trans snowplow and cleared the road down to 41. He
also plowed a path to the stack of firewood and they moved several cords to their front
porches for convenience.

“This is very much better, I hated being in that shelter.”

“I guess we got our money’s worth on those, didn’t we?”

102
“We did, Dean. It was provincial that Avis and you moved to the acreage. I wonder if
there is anything left of Fresno or Madera.”

“We can wait until later to find out.”

“I don’t see the need to do that. That would be like pointing an arrow right at this place
and hanging out an invitation. I do wonder how many people died, however.”

“NPR is back on the air. Powell says that the US didn’t get hit as badly as it could have.
They hit some military targets and a few large cities. I suppose that we got hit because
Fresno is bigger than Sacramento. That neutralized much of the central valley. We’ll
want to do something about security once the roads begin to open. We have weapons
and 2 Deputy Sheriff’s in the family. Plus Rob’s a Paramedic. We’re better off than
most.”

“Is Avis snapping out of her doom and gloom?”

“The antidepressant that Rob gave her seem to be helping. I believe that warmer
weather and more sunshine will help too.”

“Were you as surprised about Rob and Shelly as I was?”

“Yes and no. They’d been seeing each other on and off. Coffee, movies, dinners and
riding together for some time plus Shelly helped him some with his mare when the mare
was with foal. I think Rob was slower to be attracted to Shelly than vice versa. They do
make a nice looking couple.”

“April’s ecstatic. They didn’t get all of the usual wedding gifts or a honeymoon, but may-
be later we can do something for them.”

“Yeah like baby sit their kids when they finally go on their honeymoon,” Dean chuckled.

“Different world than it was last Thanksgiving.”

“Maybe starting over as we must, things will be better.”

“I wouldn’t count on that if I were you. The world may change, but people never do.”

“A note of cynicism?”

“Fought in the First Gulf War. It gives a person a different outlook about people.”

“I was in Just Cause. Not much of a war, but people got killed. I know what you mean.”

103
“How are we going to protect this place when it warms up? We have 4 men, 4 women
and 2 children at the moment. The fence keeps the livestock in, but it was never intend-
ed to keep people out.”

“That was one of the things that were so appealing about April’s and your acreage, it’s
off the beaten path. That paved road is an advertisement that someone lives some-
where in this direction. There’s that little bridge a couple of miles off of 41, we could
drop it. That would keep others out, but I guess we’d be trapped. Forget it, that wouldn’t
work.”

“It could work, if we did it right.”

“What do you have in mind Tom?”

“A bascule bridge. It is a drawbridge with a counterweight that continuously balances

the span throughout the entire upward swing in providing clearance for traffic. Such
bridges are either single-leaf or double-leaf. I saw one in Seattle once.”

“Man that would be quite the project. How would you put in counterweights?”

“We’d have to dig holes for them. We have enough pine trees to cut the lumber. I have
that attachment for my chainsaw to cut planks or slabs. I’ll work on the idea and show
you a picture when I get it figured out.”

“Might work. I guess we’re not short of time to construct it.”

“It would be a good time to cut the trees too because the sap is down. We could cut
them now and drag them to the house. If we had some decent days, we could saw the
planks. I have a box of carriage bolts in the storage building. We could assemble the
bridge here and them take out the bolts and reassemble it after we got the holes put in.”

“How would you put in the holes?”

“Dynamite. The only thing I don’t have is a large piece of heavy pipe to use as the hinge
pin. I suppose we could use another pine for that.”

“I saw some 6” pipe somewhere if I can only remember. It was stainless steel and had a
thick wall, real high-pressure stuff. One of the junkyards, but I’ll have to try and remem-
ber which one.”

“We would probably need some ready-mix, too.”

“I’ll ask Shelly, she’s been all over Madera County in that patrol car.”

104
“I saw the pipe at American Scrap Metal in Fresno. Shelly says we can get ready mix
from American Transit Mix Company in Madera.”

“Let’s go saw down some trees.”

The two side beams were 40’ long and 8”x12”. The planks were 4”x 12” about 16’ long.
Tom didn’t have any carriage bolts long enough to bolt the bridge together. They need-
ed bolts > 16” long. They also needed a drill bit long enough to drill through 16” of wood.
They needed to go shopping before they could assemble the bridge the first time. They
made a very fast trip into Fresno, found the used pipe at the scrap yard and a pail of
used carriage bolts with nuts. The drill bit came from a specialty store in Madera and
they drove 2 ready mix trucks home that only needed the water to be added. A truck
was parked on either side of the small bridge and they assembled the drawbridge. They
used a backhoe on their side of the gully to dig 2 trenches 20’ long and 20’ deep.

After, they destroyed the existing bridge and put in forms. The poured the concrete on
either side of the gully and waited a few days for it to set up. While the concrete was
curing, they dismantled the bridge, transported it to where they were going to use it and
reassembled it. When all was ready, they moved the new bridge into place and
strapped the pipe loosely to the bridge. Finally, they started adding 8” wide sections one
at a time to the counterbalance beams until the bridge was almost totally counterbal-
anced. It took one man standing on each of the counterbalance beams to raise the
bridge. They added a section of a 20’ extension ladder to each counterbalance beam so
they could climb out after the bridge was raised. They added a heavy log chain to keep
anyone from being able to pull the bridge down from the other side with something like a
grapple.

“It’s not exactly what I had in mind when I came up with the idea, thanks to you, but it
appears that it will work.”

“The only problem I see Tom is that the drawbridge will block vehicles but we were able
to cross that gully and get back to this side. We need to keep people from doing what
we did.”

“I saw some used razor wire at the scrap yard. Could we do something with that?”

“If there is enough, sure.”

“We need to return the Ready mix trucks to Madera, so why don’t we make another
quick trip into Fresno?”

“Do we want to do any shopping while we’re in town?”

105
“I think a very quick in and out would be more in order. I’d prefer to avoid people if we
could.”

“What are you antisocial all of a sudden?”

“Prudent. We can get Garry and Rob to put in the razor wire and we can start tilling for a
garden. Keep an eye open for any livestock on our way into town and back. We could
use a bull and a couple of cows to begin raising meat.”

“We may have to go north to find any livestock that didn’t die off from the radiation.”

“Then we’ll go north. It doesn’t make any difference to me where we get it and we can
pay for it if we need to. We have all of our money in gold and silver.”

“Is 2017 going to be a good growing season?”

“We had a lot of snow this past winter and it isn’t as warm as last year. There is more
than enough subsoil moisture for this year. This year will probably be cold and dry and
next year hot and dry. We may not get much moisture until the year after that. We may
have to irrigate next year and the year after. We can use garden hoses, we won’t be
putting in that big of a garden.”

“What about livestock feed?”

“We have enough hay for 2-3 years. We’ll try and buy grain from whoever we get the
beef from.”

“And if we can’t find anyone to sell us grain?”

“Strategic reallocation.”

“Steal it?”

“Yep. Well, take it from abandoned properties, actually. If we can come up with farm
equipment and seed, we can crow corn, oats and barley to make our own feed.”

Historically, Madera County was a lumbering area. There was a single mine in Madera
County. The County is bordered on the south and west by Fresno County, on the
northwest by Merced County, on the northeast by Mariposa and Mono Counties. Mono
County is the home of a large geological depression called the Long Valley Caldera and
several lakes and mountains. Mono County borders with the state of Nevada. Merced
County is primarily an agricultural area. The eastern half of Mariposa County is the cen-
tral portion of Yosemite National Park.

106
 A Family Alone – Chapter 21 – Security & Food

“We’d probably do well looking in Merced County for livestock and grain.”

“It’s not that far to Yosemite. We’ll probably get people out of the San Francisco area
heading there to camp. Some of them could end up here. Have you thought about that
Tom?”

“We put in the bridge and we’re adding razor wire. I don’t know that we can do much
more than that, Dean. The acreage could support many more than the 10 of us, but
that’s going to have to be a judgment call when the people show up. I’m not looking for-
ward to shooting people.”

“Rob, you and Garry get some leather gloves and see what you can do about installing
the razor wire on either side of the bridge on our side of the gully.”

“Are Dean and you going to help us?”

“We’re going to till the ground for gardens. After we’re both done, we might head up to
Merced County to find some cattle and possibly even farm equipment. We have enough
ground here that we should be able to put in 10 acres each of corn, oats and barley. But
to do that, I think we need a tractor, plow, and other equipment. You might think about
what you’ve seen on farms in the area and give us some ideas.”

“What about hay?”

“There’s enough hay for 2-3 years, isn’t there?”

“I guess so, yes.”

“Ten acres of corn ought to give us over 1,000 bushels, 10 acres of oats anywhere from
400 to 700 bushels and 10 acres of barley over 500 bushels. That’s a lot of livestock
feed. We could plant alfalfa the following year.”

“Could we plant 10 acres of alfalfa and 10 acres of wheat?”

“We could try, Rob. That’s a lot of wheat, 200-500 bushels.”

“If you’re rotating crops, it makes sense. That much wheat would last us awhile,
wouldn’t it?”

“Yes. The third 10 acres could be anything.”

“With all of the farms in the area, we should be able to buy what we can’t grow. There
are all of the nut trees, fruit trees and so forth. We can grind any extra wheat and make
it into pasta; it will keep forever if we dry it right.”

107
“You’re on the right track. Get the wire in and we’ll go shopping.”

“Shopping he calls it. I suppose the same rules don’t apply any more, Garry.”

“Rob, we have families to feed and defend. Who knows how long it will take the country
to get back on its feet? In fact, who knows if the country will get back on its feet? We’d
better be thinking about the various things we can’t produce on our own that we’re going
to have to acquire to survive.”

“Like what?”

“Fuels, unless we can produce biodiesel. We sure can’t produce propane, can we? We
don’t have any reloading supplies so we’re either going to have to acquire them or find
more ammunition, eventually. We can grow most of our own foods, but some of the
spices are imported.”

“Mom and Sam are Watkins dealers, we have a lot of imported spices. We can grow
some things that we’ve never grown before. Things like chilies, beans and rice for ex-
ample. It might be a lot of effort, but I don’t think we’ll starve anytime soon.”

“That’s assuming we can get the seeds.”

“Garry we have the seeds; Dad and Mom are fanatics when it comes to preparedness.
Offhand I say your Dad is too.”

“Dad could only push Mom so far. She refused to believe that anything like this could
ever happen. The only reason we have the things we have is that she humored him.”

“But she was right there on the range with everyone else, I saw her.”

“There was a whole lot of humoring going on. I think those pills you gave her helped get
her through the crisis. Your Mom can teach my Mom how to bake bread and do a lot of
things that she always took for granted. Be careful with this razor wire, it’s rusty.”

“Have you had a tetanus shot lately?”

“A year or 2 ago when I cut my hand.”

“They’re generally good for 5-10 years. We’d had better be careful though, I only have a
limited supply of antibiotics. Oh, Shelly is expecting.”

“That didn’t take long.”

108
“It didn’t take Sam and you very long either.”

“It rained a lot.”

“Just remember if you go for a tumble in the hay to take a blanket.”

“We need places to live, Dad. Could we maybe find a couple of singlewide trailers and
tow them here?”

“Sure Rob, we’ll look for some. We can borrow a couple of new trailers from a dealer.”

“Borrow?”

“We’ll give them back when we’re done with them. When we clear more trees for fire-
wood, we’ll expand the property a little. I don’t think California is going to care one way
or another.”

“Dad!”

“Rob, think of it as the Taxpayers Relief Act of 2017. If we can grow more food, we’ll
have more to share with other people.”

“Nice save.”

“Thanks.”

“Someone is going to have to watch the bridge.”

“Why?”

“What if someone shows up?”

“Oh, good point. How will we know if they’re friendly?”

“I haven’t gotten to that part yet. I suppose we could ask them.”

“And if they don’t shoot, assume they’re friendly?”

“No, radio back to the house and get support. Then we could determine if they’re friend-
ly.”

“What if there are more of them then there are of us?”

109
“I see what you mean. I guess we’d have to make them put down any weapons they
have before we lowered the bridge.”

“And pick them right back up after we did? I don’t think that would work. What we need
is a smaller, single-file bridge next to the vehicle bridge. That would allow us to better
control their movement. We’ll build one after they get back from Merced County.”

“How would we raise and lower a single-file bridge?”

“We have the Warn 12k winches on the trucks. I think we could work something out. Do
you agree, Avis?”

“I think you have it figured out April. I’ll feel better when the men get back. I can shoot a
weapon, but don’t know if my heart is in it.”

“Think of our grandchildren. I’d kill anybody who threatened them, wouldn’t you?”

“I don’t want killing to become easy.”

“Avis, if you live to be 1,000, killing people will never be easy. When Tom had to shoot
the kids’ father, he didn’t sleep good for a very long time. And their father said he had a
gun, so what choice did Tom have, wait for their father to shoot him and hope he didn’t
get killed? Tom had killed before in the First Gulf War, so it wasn’t a question of whether
or not he could do it. It was a choice he was forced to make. We might be required to
make the same choice someday.”

“If we had more people here, it might not be a problem.”

“I agree, but we’re going to need to be so selective. Whatever we end up doing is going
to include some hard choices.

“He said the cows were inseminated by his other bull so we shouldn’t have any inter-
breeding problems.”

“Stop.”

“What for?”

“Let’s check out that Chevron tanker and see if it is full or empty. If it’s even half full we’ll
really increase our fuel supply.”

“Rob, hold up, we want to check out this tanker.”

110
“10-4.”

“Well?”

“It’s full, and from the smell of it, it’s one tank of diesel and one tank of gasoline. Do you
have enough PRI-G and PRI-D?”

“April went nuts. She bought 4 gallons of each. Then when it looked like the crap was
going to hit the fan, I got even crazier and bought 8 more gallons of each. Do you have
some too?”

“Not as much as you do. I have 2 gallons of PRI-G.”

“We’ll have to hit a marina. They usually have the gallon bottles to use in the house-
boats and large boats. Can you drive that rig?”

“If I can get it started I can. Do you have a set of jumper cables?”

“Doesn’t everybody?”

“I didn’t, but when they started making announcements about the end of the world I
bought a lot of last minute items. I’d have had more, but Avis really isn’t into this surviv-
alist stuff, she humors me is all.”

Dean couldn’t get the diesel engine to turn over because the battery was dead. It only
took a jump-start so they were lucky. Garry could only fix an engine if they had the parts
and he didn’t have any parts for a Peterbilt. A few miles down the road was another
tanker, both tanks filled with diesel. It was a later model tractor and they couldn’t get it
started. Dean figured they could send Garry and Rob back with this tractor and pull the
trailer back. It would increase their fuel an additional 24,000-gallons of diesel and 8,000-
gallons of gasoline, a huge supply.

“I need the two of you to go back for that other tanker.”

“I’m exhausted, Dad, can it wait until tomorrow?”

“Sure.”

“April, do you have a minute?”

111
 A Family Alone – Chapter 22 – Riding Shotgun

“What do you want Tom?”

“We need to get that trailer tonight. Will you ride shotgun?”

“Of course. Why didn’t Rob go?”

“Garry and he are exhausted from wrestling with those cattle.”

“Shotgun or rifle?”

“Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

“Where’s the tanker?”

“Near the Los Banos exit on I-5.”

“That’s 75 miles, isn’t it?”

“About that yes, are you too tired? I hate to leave it sitting overnight; someone could
come along and take it. There are 16,000-gallons of diesel fuel there.”

“I’m going to take the 12-gauge Saiga shotgun and a couple of extra mags. I have my
Commander as a backup.”

“I’ll take a M16 in that case. If we do have a problem, it is likely to be up close and per-
sonal.”

“What did you get for cattle?”

“Three bred cows and a bull plus a load of feed.”

“Buy or take?”

“We bought the cattle and feed. The guy told us that another bull bred the cows, so we
should be in good shape. He also told us where we might get some used farm imple-
ments. He said he didn’t want the stuff and the tractor needed engine work. Garry said
he thought he could handle it.”

“I hope so. Will it be hard for him to get the parts?”

“I had the impression that the parts were there and the guy didn’t get a chance to make
the repairs before TSHTF.”

“Is that the tanker there?”

112
“Yes, I just have to cross over the median. I’ll get out and drop the wheels on the trailer,
hook on a chain and when I waive, you pull the tractor ahead slowly.”

“Ok.”

Tom did all of those things and climbed into the cab of the dead tractor. He rolled down
the window, released the brakes, made sure it was in neutral and waived to April. She
eased out on the clutch slowly taking up the slack in the chain and pulled the tractor un-
til Tom waived again. When he stopped she backed up a little to put slack in the chain.
Tom got out of the cab, collected the log chain and tossed it back in the toolbox. April
slid over and Tom backed up the truck, engaging the 5th wheel. He then got out locked
the 5th wheel, attached the brake lines and raised the wheels on the trailer. As he
headed back to the tractor a car pulled up beside them. Two men got out and one ran to
the right side of the vehicle while the other headed for Tom’s side. April laid her Com-
mander in her lap and changed the position of the shotgun to point towards Tom’s win-
dow.

The man on the left side of the semi got up on the running board waiving a gun. April
blew him away in a heartbeat. She started to reach for the Commander in her lap
when…

“BANG.”

“Oh,” Tom groaned. “I’m shot.”

“That SOB.”

The shot had come through her window splattering her with glass. Her Commander was
in her hand, so she turned and emptied the magazine into the guy on the right running
board before he could react.

“How bad is it, Tom?”

“I’m bleeding pretty badly, but I don’t think it’s fatal.”

“It will be if we don’t get you treatment. You could bleed to death.”

“Get the QuikClot ACS+ trauma kit. It should keep me from bleeding out until you can
get me to Rob.”

“I’ve never pulled a load with a semi.”

“It’s about time you learned, honey,” Tom said before he passed out.

113
April applied the bandages. It was a traumatic drive home. Sam and Shelly were waiting
by the bridge and saw April coming rather fast. They lowered the bridge and when April
crossed, raised it back in place. April pulled into the driveway blowing her horn. Rob
stumbled out along with the others.

“He’s shot. Fix it,” April directed.

Then she did something most uncharacteristic for her, she poured herself two fingers of
whiskey and gulped it down before collapsing into a chair, sobbing. Sam and Shelly
came into the house and asked what was wrong.

“Tom’s shot,” April replied.

Sam sat down to comfort her mother and Shelly hurried to assist Rob. Slowly April told
Sam the entire story of what had happened. Reporting, not blaming.

Rob came out after 45 minutes and said, “I’ve got bullet out, the wound debrided, bleed-
ing stopped and the wound sutured. I have him on 1 liter of Ringer’s. He’s going to be
ok. I added a bolus of painkiller and of an antibiotic. He’ll be drowsy, but he’s awake. I’m
sorry, I should have gone.”

“How could you have known? It was routine until those two guys showed up,” April re-
plied. “I killed the two SOB’s that did this to him.”

If looks could have killed at that moment Rob would have dropped in his tracks from the
look that Sam gave him. Ever since the night that Tom had killed the molesting asshole,
Sam admired, even perhaps adored Tom. She only held out for the year before bringing
up the subject of adoption for appearances sake. After the way she had initially acted,
she couldn’t just cave in…

“Dummy, you should have asked me to go with you,” Dean chided.

“Dean it wouldn’t have changed a single thing and I’m fine, just sore as hell. April blew
both of the dudes away.”

“Rob really feels bad.”

“Why? He and Garry were exhausted from handling the cattle. I thought about asking
you, but hell, you were tired too. April wasn’t particularly tired, so I asked her. Turned
out to be a good choice. Those two guys who jumped us might have been able to get
that tractor running and we’d have been out 16,000-gallons of diesel.”

114
“From now on when we go scavenging, we’d better take 4 people. Avis and April talked
about putting in a single lane bridge across the gully to allow people to cross. The boys
and I will get that done while you heal up.”

“Hi honey, feeling better?”

“It hurts and my right ear is ringing, but I’ll be fine. Could I have a cup of coffee?”

“Are you sure you don’t want some broth or something?”

“Coffee, woman and be quick about it,” Tom tried to laugh. “Ouch that hurts. Black,
please.”

“What are you doing out of bed?”

“I got tired of waiting for the coffee.”

“I was making a fresh pot. You knew that Shelly was pregnant?”

“Not hardly, I wasn’t there. Nobody tells me anything.”

“I just told you.”

“So you did. Nice shooting last night and that was smart having your pistol in your lap.
Otherwise you’d have gotten shot before you could have reversed the shotgun.”

“You’re going to need a sling for that arm. Rob has some, I’ll get you one.”

“Thanks.”

Obviously neither Tom nor April considered what happened to be anything more or less
than bad luck, e.g., stuff happens. Not so the other folks on the acreage. Rob was feel-
ing pretty low; his Dad had asked him to go after the fuel and he’d begged off. Dean
was feeling left out and that perhaps Tom didn’t think he was up to pulling his weight.
Samantha perhaps felt that it should have been Rob in the Truck rather than April. Rob
was a Paramedic and could have rendered aid immediately, assuming he brought his
Paramedic bag. Paul and Caroline could have cared less; they had no concept of what
happened. Avis may have thought that April couldn’t wait to make her point about killing
to protect a loved one. Shelly was probably feeling bad for the position Rob thought he
was in. It is amazing how 10 people can view one set of circumstances, most differently.

It was the fault of the Iranians and Pakistan and India – they started World War III. None
of the civilian population had any idea who bombed whom. Well, they probably figured
that it was the Israelis who took out the Middle East, assuming they knew. Not entirely,

115
the US popped a couple of enemies while they had planes in the air. There was nothing
accidental about the US attacks either. It isn’t like the B-2s were sitting around loaded
with neutron bombs waiting for someone to start something. There wasn’t any need for
that; the US had 2,688 warheads on their boomers – more deployed nuclear weapons
than any nation in the world. And I didn’t even count the land-based missiles. WW III
was just as everyone had predicated, there weren’t any winners, only losers.

Did you notice who escaped attacks in the Middle East? Afghanistan, maybe, it de-
pended on how accurate the Indian weapons were. Egypt, Lebanon, and Turkey es-
caped plus all of those little Muslim countries and Emirates. Maybe no bombs, but they
probably got a lot of radioactive fallout. Europe no doubt had a Nuclear Winter even
though they never fired a shot. And odds favored Canada and Mexico getting a little
fallout.

How long does it take to heal up from a bullet to your upper right arm? Six weeks?
Eight? Someone else was going to have to hoe the garden. Plus they needed that farm
equipment from Merced County. The farm equipment surely would include a tractor or
two, plow, disc, drag, wagons, mower, manure spreader, combine with a corn head and
a grain head, a hammer mill and maybe a baler. Maybe some chickens and a few head
of hogs, hams and bacon are a pig thing. In addition, there would be some scavenging
to do, for ammo, coffee, toilet paper, feminine hygiene products, clothing and possibly
cigarettes, just to name a few odds and ends. Also at least 2 mobile homes either 14’ x
70’ or 16’ x 84’. Plus feed supplements to add to the corn and oats. It all had to be com-
pleted despite the gloomy weather, and the sooner the better.

That second trip to Merced County to get the farm machinery produced a bonus. The
bonus came in the form a couple with a small child. Hauling a lowboy with their new
tractor, Dean and the others found the farm that they had been told about. It was appar-
ently abandoned from its appearance. However in the machine shed was a man work-
ing on the disabled tractor. Dean approached the man with his SPAS-15 held low.

“Is this your farm? We understood it was abandoned.”

“My wife, son and I live here mister, don’t shoot.”

“By live here do you mean you worked for the fella that owns the place?”

“No sir. We’re from Fresno. We were on our way out of the area when the bombs or
whatever fell. We saw this abandoned farm and stayed in the basement. I decided to
see if I could get this tractor to run so I could plow an area for a garden.”

116
 A Family Alone – Chapter 23 – The Cortez Family

“What’s your name?”

“Manny Cortez. My wife’s name is Salina and our son is Paulo.”

“Do you have a gun Manny?”

“Just that .22 rifle over there by the door.”

“We came after the farm machinery, Manny. We’re from the Hildreth area, do you know
it?”

“North of Fresno on 41? I’ve been by there once or twice on my way to Oakhurst.”

“What did you do for a living?”

“Farm laborer. Salina cleaned rooms at a motel until Paulo came.”

“Hey Garry, take a look at this tractor and tell me what you think.”

“Hi, I’m Garry,” Garry said to Manny.

“Not bad, he’s almost done with the repairs. Maybe an hour to finish up and then we
could probably fire it up. You want me to finish it?”

“Go ahead. Manny, why don’t you introduce us to your family? Garry will finish the trac-
tor and I might have a proposition for you.”

“What kind of proposition?”

“We live on an acreage, we’re short of people and don’t know much about farming. I’ll
set my shotgun next to your rifle, we wouldn’t want to upset your wife.”

Manny grinned. He figured the gringo was going to shoot him. Manny and Salina were
legal immigrants to the United States. They had been in Fresno for about 4 years and
had worked hard to get ahead in their adopted homeland. Paulo was about 1 year old.
They’d been lucky finding this farm; there were canned goods in the basement and
camping equipment. Whoever lived here before had bolted and left behind everything.
Uncertain how long they had to stay under cover, they had only come out when they re-
alized that the food was running low.

“My name is Dean Owens, Manny. Garry is my son. The other fellow is Rob Henson. He
was a Deputy Sheriff with Madera County and is a Paramedic.”

“Salina, this man is Dean Owens. Mr. Owens, my wife Salina and son Paulo.”

117
“Dean is fine, Mrs. Cortez. I was suggesting to your husband that you folks might want
to move to our acreage.”

“Que?”

Manny explained in a flurry of Spanish and Salina broke into a big grin. Her English
wasn’t as fluent as Manny’s, but she could understand if you spoke slowly. (Nice name,
Salina. It could refer to a horse, a Hispanic singer (Selena) and now a Hispanic house-
wife. Plus, I know how to spell it.)

“It’s running. We’ll use it to haul everything to the lowboy and begin loading. There’s
some seed stacked in the machine shed, corn, I think.”

“Manny are there any other tractors?”

“An old Ford they probably used to pull wagons. It’s out of gas, but it ran.”

“There are a couple of jerry cans of gas in the back of the semi. Rob, you want to see if
you can get the Ford to run?”

“I’ll do it, if it’s ok,” Manny offered.

“Manny, here’s a list of what we’re looking for. What of the equipment on the list have
you seen on the farm?”

“He had an old pull combine and a mounted row crop corn picker. I didn’t see a hammer
mill. It won’t all fit on that trailer, though.”

“How many trips to haul it all?”

“Three, maybe four.”

“Would you and your wife be interested in moving back to the Fresno area?”

“If you take the equipment, I won’t be able to farm. Sí. Yes.”

“You and your family can stay with Avis and me, Manny. Once we get the farm equip-
ment, we’ll be pulling in some mobile homes and setting them up. Then we’ll be doing
some salvaging operations. When you’re settled, I’ll introduce you to everyone else.”

“What do you know of this fella and his wife, Dean?”

118
“Not a lot, Tom. They say they’re legal Mexican immigrants. He was a farm worker and
she cleaned motels before she had her baby. Garry said that Manny wasn’t a half bad
mechanic. Salina pitched right in and helped Avis clean up. Rob checked them over and
said that they were healthy. If he worked as a farm laborer, he probably knows how to
use most of that equipment.”

“What did we come up short?”

“A hammer mill. We got 8 bags of seed corn, though. How is your arm coming?”

“I won’t be much help for a while, but it itches so it’s starting to heal.”

“We have to make two more trips for the rest of the equipment. We’ll try to spot a ham-
mer mill and some mobile homes.”

“It’s healing nicely, Dad.”

“Can I lose the sling?”

“Give it another week. We have all of the farm equipment here, including a new hammer
mill. We’ll be bringing in 6 mobile homes we found, 2 at a time.”

“Someone is going to need to grade a level spot to set them up.”

“Manny is doing that. They are a nice couple. Those stumps we left haven’t all rotted out
yet, we may have to dig some of them out.”

“What the deal on the mobile homes? Are we going to need to do a lot of conversions?”

“They had propane stoves, furnaces and hot water heaters. They also had fireplaces.
Dean suggested that we replace the fireplaces with some of those high efficiency stoves
and not use the furnaces.”

“How is Avis doing?”

“Good. I’m going to keep her on the Zoloft until I start to run low and then taper her off.”

“Still think we’re stealing?”

“We aren’t taking things from people. I guess I can live with it. You knew that Shelly is
expecting?”

“Old news. What the background radiation level like, I haven’t looked lately?”

119
“50mR and still coming down.”

“They must have used a clean weapon or an airburst.”

“There isn’t much of a crater so maybe the latter, it flattened Fresno. There are some
survivors. All the people who got too much radiation died and they cleaned up portions
of the city and buried them in a mass grave. I’ve got to go. You take it easy on that arm
and let it heal.”

“Hi Daddy, how are you feeling?”

“Not bad Sam, what’s new?”

“Well… Garry and I talked it over and since we’re going to be doing a lot of things by
hand in the future, we decided to have another baby. Shelly is expecting too.”

“It’s ironic Sam. Nobody told me about Shelly at first and after your mom told me, eve-
ryone has told me.”

A week later, Tom had stopped using the sling. He had strapped on a Vaquero, but as
sore as his arm was probably couldn’t use it. The new mobile homes had been moved,
leveled and hooked up. Dean and the others were in the process of replacing the fire-
places with high efficiency stoves. Garry, Rob and Manny had moved into the mobile
homes. They still had to do something about plumbing in the propane but for now they
were using cylinders of bottle gas. Manny was keeping the garden weeded and when
he wasn’t doing that, removing stumps from the back part of the acreage. Salina was
helping everyone clean their homes.

The girls, Shelly and Sam, kept a watch on the bridge during the daytime. Up to this
point in time, they hadn’t had any visitors. They hadn’t been able to get any supplies
from Fresno and had driven down to Visalia to get what they needed. They bought
things there, because Visalia had come through the attacks in good condition. They also
picked up some wheat, oats, barley and alfalfa to plant.

“Manny? I’m Tom. I’m sorry I didn’t get around introducing myself earlier. What’s the sit-
uation on the stumps?”

“Senior Tom. This is your farm, no?”

“Not much of a farm, 40 acres, but its April’s and mine.”

“I should have the stumps out of 20 acres by fall. You won’t want to plant any more than
20 acres, will you? You need room for your horses, cattle and pigs.”

120
“That’s what we talked about, 30 acres divided between 3 crops. We grow corn, oats
barley the first year and alfalfa, wheat and something else the second year.”

“We can clear a few acres every winter gathering firewood and expand your farm Senior
Tom.”

“Just plain Tom, Manny. I put my pants on one leg at a time. I’ve met your wife when
she helped April clean house. Nice little boy.”

“Thank you, we’re going to have more.”

“From what I’m hearing, everyone young enough to have children is doing that. I under-
stand that when Dean ran into you, you only had a .22 rifle, is that right?”

“Yes.”

“Come by the house when you get a chance and I’ll see what I can do to rectify the situ-
ation. I’ll let you have a M1A rifle and an M16. We’re going to have to find more hand-
guns, though.”

“I got a handgun in Visalia, Tom. It’s used and in poor condition, but I got it cheap.”

“What did you get?”

“A Colt .45 pistol.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“The barrel is badly pitted and the front bushing is worn.”

“I have a couple of new barrels and bushings; maybe we could fix it up. I also have ex-
tra magazines. Did you get ammo?”

“One box.”

“I can give you more of that too, military surplus.”

“Thank you. Everyone has been so nice. We are in a new home, have food on the table,
everything.”

“No one has given you anything Manny, you’ve worked hard. Where are we going to
clear the timber this winter?”

121
 A Family Alone – Chapter 24 – 40 Acres and…

“The land to the east between here and highway 41 is flatter. Maybe there.”

“Would some dynamite help you removing those stumps?”

“Would it ever.”

“There’s one box in the shed in the cabinet, I’ll unlock it for you. The fuse is there too,
but the blasting caps are in another place. I’ll set out a box on the counter.”

“I can have all of the stumps out by fall. Will there be enough for the other land we
clear?”

“I can get more.”

“Did you ever think of putting dynamite charges in that gully? They would serve the
same purpose as landmines.”

“I hadn’t thought about it, but I suppose that I could do it if I could get electrical blasting
caps.”

“If you can find them and enough dynamite, I’ll set the charges.”

Tom got with Dean a few days later and they headed to Visalia and points south to find
dynamite and electrical blasting caps. Tom explained to Dean that Manny had suggest-
ed mining the gully with dynamite. Dean agreed that it was a very good idea. The only
problem he foresaw was the possibility that someone might follow the gully to the point
where it flattened out and ended. Tom allowed that it was a possibility but there was a
limit to what they could do to protect the acreage. The solution might be to find 3 more
families to occupy the 3 vacant trailers.

“I have 5 cases of dynamite left, how many do you want?”

“That would depend on how much it costs.”

“There won’t be any more after these 5 cases are gone. I’m going to have to charge you
double the pre-war rate.”

“Do you have blasting caps?”

“Electrical and fuse type, what do you want?”

“I’ll take both, would you accept gold to pay for everything?”

122
“Krugerrands or Maple Leafs?”

“Krugerrands.”

“I’ll take Krugerrands; I don’t much care for the Maple Leafs. The minute you touch
them, they start to go down in value. I can give you $1,500 an ounce. Two Krugerrands
would buy out my entire stock of explosives.”

“Deal.”

“Damned expensive explosives, Tom.”

“$544, Dean. I’ve had those Krugerrands for a long time.”

“That’s what I said, damned cheap explosives.”

When they got back to the drawbridge a pickup with a camper was parked. It was Dave,
from Reno, with his family. Shelly had told him to wait until the men were back from their
shopping trip.

“How did you find the place, Dave?”

“You gave me good directions, but I don’t suppose you remember. That was back when
you bought the first M1A.”

“Come to the acreage. Shelly, lower the drawbridge.”

“Counterbalanced?”

“It used to take 180 pounds on the end of both arms. We added extra weight so Shelly
and Sam could raise and lower it. Come on up to the house.”

“So we laid low until the radioactive fallout cleared. I decided to come here but when I
looked at the map, I realized that I’d probably be going through Hawthorne, Nevada.
Made a stop there and picked up some extra ammo.”

“How are you set for rifles?”

“I just had a shipment come in about the time the balloon went up. I hadn’t sold more
than ⅓ of them. I have several M16s and several more M1As. I had a fair number of
magazines and I was able to pick up some ammo in Hawthorne. Hawthorne is a Tier II
cadre site that maintains additional war reserve stocks. Tier II facilities store War Re-
serve ammunition to be used after the first 30 days. I sort of helped myself to the war
reserves.”

123
“How much did you get?”

“A lot of 5.56 and 9mm. All we could carry. I see you have a lowboy for that semi-
tractor. We could go back and get more. We could also pick up things I didn’t bring like
7.62×51mm and hand grenades. It’s just a shame they didn’t have weapons.”

“We picked up some dynamite today to mine the gully. You didn’t see any land mines,
did you?”

“Sorry.”

“We have 3 empty mobile homes, Dave. We also have some people who need weap-
ons. I loaned them a M1A and a M16, but maybe you could supply them with some.”

“Dad, there were some Beretta 92FSs in the Sheriff’s Armory. We don’t have anything
that uses the 9mm ammo, otherwise.”

“Would they still be there?”

“Highly likely. Nobody liked them. There are magazines, too assuming the weapons are
still there.”

“Why don’t Garry, Manny and you go find out?”

“How many did you get?”

“Sixteen pistols, 80 magazines and the holsters and mag pouches.”

“I guess we’re set for the next war. I’ll help Manny put the charges in the gully. After
that, he can finish clearing the stumps and plow 20 acres.”

“Why don’t we all help with the charges?” Dean asked. “We’d get done a lot sooner and
be more secure.”

“How big of a charge do we need, Manny?”

“A half of stick ought to be enough. If we use a full stick, it might collapse the gully. This
was all of the dynamite you could get, 5 cases?”

“It was all that the guy in Visalia had. If it’s not going to be enough, I suppose we can
look for more.”

“I’ll make do, Tom. There is only one box of electrical caps in that carton of caps. We
have plenty of wire if you can come up with more electrical caps later.”

124
“Maybe at one of the mines?” Dean suggested.

“It’s possible Dean, we’ll have to see. We’ll put in as many of the half sticks as we have
caps and see if we need more.”

“I can already tell you that I could use one more box of caps for sure, Tom. Why don’t
Dean and you go check out the mines? You might find more explosives, too.”

“Dean?”

“Let’s go. Someone lower the bridge. Tom, there are 18 mines in Fresno County and 8
in Madera County. We’ll probably find more explosives than we can use.”

“Let’s hope so, Dean. Except for blowing stumps, I prefer not to have to use any of the
explosives. The damned world has gone crazy. We’ve just been lucky so far. I figured
we’d have a lot of people in the area because of Yosemite.”

“That’s a large park. It will probably overflow sooner or later. It will give us time to get
our preps in order. It would be nice if we had more propane. I know we have a lot, but
now we’re supplying propane to 8 homes.”

“They had two large tanks were we got the propane, wasn’t of them nearly empty?”

“That tank in Mammoth Lakes? Yes it was close to empty. What do you have in mind?”

“If we could finish emptying it, possibly we could find a crane and load it onto the lowboy
for transport back here. We could set it in place and haul the fuel from the other tank.
When it was empty, we could transport it too. I think that there are several AmeriGas
locations around maybe we could end up with a total of 66,000-gallons of propane. It
would take 10 loads to empty the fuller tank and another 10 to fill the second tank, but
that would be enough propane for years.”

“That would let everyone run their propane furnaces in an emergency or when the wood
stoves weren’t putting out enough heat. We’ll have to find gas pipe. I’ll ask Rob or
Shelly.”

Population:

01. Tom and April Henson (2) Owners

02. Dean and Avis Owens (2) Co-owners
03. Garry and Samantha Owens, Paul, Caroline and Laura (5) Mechanical
04. Rob and Shelly Henson, Greg, David and April (5) Medical
05. Manny and Salina Cortez, Paulo and Maria (4) Agricultural

125
06. Dave and Mary Williams, Kelly and Amy (4) Firearms

The older adults were all between the ages of 45 and 50. Dave and Mary had married
late, around age 30. Dave had been in the Army with Tom, around the time that Tom
had gotten hurt and was 45. Dean was older than Tom having reached middle age, 50.
The fall of 2017 saw 22 people living on the acreage and 2 empty mobile homes. Tom
and Dean cleaned out the explosives at the mines in Madera County that had explo-
sives. Most of the caps they found were electrical blasting caps and they found one
spool of det cord. Manny used a full case of dynamite in the gully now that he had extra
blasting caps and the detonators. He made short work of the stumps and had the land
plowed before the first snowfall with came early in 2017. It wasn’t a lot of snow, in keep-
ing with predictions. Consequently the roads stayed open.

The gate on highway 41 was closed but not locked. They sat Dave’s travel trailer up at
the bridge so someone could keep an eye on the bridge. One of the TS-2000s was in-
stalled in the trailer and spare antennas erected so whoever was on watch could notify
the house. Often the duty fell to Kelly and Amy. They weren’t big enough to lower the
bridge if they wanted to. The 8 horses that Dean and Tom owned were mares so Rob’s
stallion was used to breed them. The 3 cows calved and they got 2 males and a female.
The gestation period on a horse is 320 - 345 days and a mare, which has just foaled,
will normally start cycling about 6 days after she has foaled. Some mares could range
up to 18 days and some mares don’t have a foal heat. It varies on a cow, depending on
the breed. These cattle had a gestation period of 283 days. Traditionally, calves have
been weaned at 7 to 8 months of age. However, if nutrition and management are ade-
quate, calves can be weaned at much younger ages and with a number of advantages.

Well-fed, mature cows normally show first estrus (heat) about 55-65 days after calving.
Since the gestation period is about 283 days, a cow must have been in heat, bred and
pregnant by 80-85 days after calving or she can’t calve every 12 months. Cows in poor
body condition, cows losing weight due to inadequate nutrition, heavy milking cows and
particularly first calf heifers calving, as 2-year-olds do not usually cycle before 85 days
after calving, resulting in late-calving or open cows. Angus cows are known for their in-
herent mothering ability and calf-rearing tendencies. The breed’s superior milking ability
and udder soundness, coupled with good fertility and temperament traits common to the
breed, make Angus females’ ideal mothers.

Plus, with moderate size and an efficient frame, Angus females mature early, breed
back quickly and have comparatively short gestation periods. In an industry that de-
pends on reproductive performance, it’s important to get young cows to calve early and
rebreed on time.

“Anything else you need to know?” Manny asked.

126
 A Family Alone – Chapter 25 – Processing Meat

“Yeah, can you ride a horse?”

“Like I was born in a saddle, boss man.”

EDC - Anticipated due date for delivery of the baby. Calculated from the first day of the
last period counting forward 280 days. So, from the moment of conception, the term is
280-14-7 or 260 days, give or take. One source put it at 266 days.

Now they really had a problem. With 10 mares bred, they didn’t have enough horse
stalls in the two barns. It would be okay for a while, but eventually they have to have
more room. Dean had originally looked at a covered corral when he was considering
putting in a barn. They could get their own poles from the lodge pole pines and all they
would need is lumber and roofing materials. Why not use the remaining flexible thin film
PV roofing for the corral roof? I would mean locating extra panels if they didn’t have
enough and a lot more batteries, but if the corral roof were flat, it would generate a lot of
electricity. And, if they had enough panels, perhaps they could erect two canted plat-
forms to point the panels toward the south at ~ a 30° angle. By lumber I’m referring to
plywood. However, Tom had that attachment for his chainsaw so if they couldn’t come
up with any, they could saw planks. They would still need tarpaper and tar to put under
the flexible thin film PV roofing.

“My goodness, we’re going to have a herd of crying babies, cattle and fillies and colts. I
may have to hide in the shelter to get away from the noise.”

“You forgot the hogs, they’re bred too.”

“Who’s on first?”

“The pigs, 114 days; then the kids and the cows, followed by the horses.”

“We’ll need a smoke house and hardwood to smoke the bacon and hams.”

“We can use hickory chips; it will be easier than finding a tree.”

“We’re going to need someone who knows how to butcher the hogs and cattle and cut
the meat.”

“Then you had better get looking, Tom, you only have about 3 months to find someone.”

“Right, April, I’ll run an ad in the Fresno Bee.”

“What’s bothering you?”

127
“I guess I’m just feeling overwhelmed. We had it so peaceful here in the country. Now
the acreage is an armed camp behind a drawbridge and dynamite mines. Come spring,
Dean and I are going to move those propane tanks from Mammoth Lake and we’ll have
two tanks containing 60,000-gallons of explosive gas. Then there are those Chevron
tankers and a bullet could explode one of them too if we ever got into a firefight with
some MZBs.”

“MZBs?”

“Mutant Zombie Bikers, bad guys. I read it in a story when we still had an Internet.”
(Most real survivalists go to this website; or did until the owner removed the Patriot Fic-
tion from his website. His choice but with the internet gone, it no longer mattered.)

“Ask Dean, he might know someone.”

“To do what?”

“Cut the meat.”

“Right, I knew that’s what you meant.”

“Dean, do you know any meat cutters?”

“I know a lot of them Tom.”

“That isn’t what I meant, Dean; do you know where we can find a meat cutter?”

“In a grocery store? We could try advertising.”

“They aren’t publishing the paper.”

“No, but there is a bulletin board up in Fresno at Sheriff’s Department where people
post messages. There is also one up in Madera at the Sheriff’s Department.”

“April suggested that we smoke the hams and bacon with hickory chips.”

“I think that might work, but we’ll have to build a smokehouse. I’ll get Manny to saw
some planks. Those pigs are growing like weeds.”

“Dean I don’t know much about smoking meat but I printed out some plans for a smoker
made from and old refrigerator. ‘Electric cold smoker: find an old refrigerator. Remove
the innards – all the innards. The fridge you use should have metal shelving rather than
plastic. Poke a hole about 1.5 inches in diameter in the top. There should be a hole in
the back, bottom about the same size where some of the wires/piping etc. came out.
Using an old beer can or some sheet metal and self-tapping screws, mount a sliding
flap over each hole so you can control the airflow. Buy a single burner electric hotplate,

128
and a small cast-iron skillet. Go to Costco or Sam’s or your neighborhood fishing supply
store and buy a box of Little Chief Smoker smoking wood sawdust. Mount the hotplate
in the bottom of the old fridge, put the skillet on top of the hotplate, run the cord out a
hole in the side or back, plug it in, turn it on medium low, fill the skillet with the sawdust,
pellets or wood chunks. Put your smoking meat on the metal shelves, (that you’ve
cleaned really good, first) close the door. Every 3-4 hours refill the skillet. Do this for 12,
18 or 24 hours, until the meat is smoked.’ What do you think about making one of
those? It might be easier than building a smokehouse.”

“All we would need is a refrigerator with the freezer on the bottom. There should be
plenty of those sitting around in abandoned houses. We could go to Fresno and look.
There won’t be many people, seeing how cold it is.”

“We might not have to smell the bodies either.”

“I hadn’t thought about that. Now would be a very good time to go. We’d better all go in
case we run into trouble. I’ll go get Manny from the woods.”

“Maybe we can pick up some hickory saw dust or chips like that article recommended.”

“How do we cure the meat?”

“Dean I have the recipe from the place where I learned about the refrigerator smoker.
‘To each 50 lbs of salt, mix about 4 pounds of molasses (blackstrap if you have it),
about 1 pound of black pepper, about 4 oz. of paprika and about 2 oz. of red pepper or
cayenne. I use molasses rather than brown sugar so that the mixture can be packed
around the meat. Color should be light brown and texture should be friable: it should
pack when squeezed in the hand but fall apart when poked; like good loam soil ready to
be plowed. Proportions are not critical and you can add whatever dry spices sound
good. Just mix and dump until you have a mixture that looks like it will cure pork! Back
when hog killing was the norm, everyone had their own mixture. Some used plain salt or
salt and pepper; others added refined sugar, brown sugar, or molasses and so forth.
You can add some saltpeter or Prague powder for added safety if you want to. I have
never used it and have no idea how much to put in. If you have no sense of adventure,
buy Morton’s Sugar Cure.

“Spread a ½-inch layer of cure on the bench, place meat skin side down and cover all
surfaces with about ½ inch of cure. Force cure into the cut shank ends of hams and
shoulders. I prefer laying all of the pieces out separately so I can see when cure gets
thin, but you can pile it all up and overhaul more often. During the phase of rapid cure
uptake, a lot of fluid is drawn from the meat. That is why you use rough wooden bench-
es with the planks not too tight – dirt floors help too. Of course, never use treated wood
in contact with food. Check the meat every few days at first then not as often as salt ab-
sorption decreases. Overhaul several times by moving the pieces around, making sure

129
they are covered with cure (it won’t stick to the dry skin on hams so don’t worry about
it). Hams and shoulders stay in cure for about 2 days per pound.”

“Now what?”

“I guess we wait and see if we get a reply to the notices we put up on the bulletin
boards.”

“When did you want to go to Nevada?”

“Hawthorne?”

“Is that where Dave was talking about?”

“Yes, the Army and Marine Corps Facility in Hawthorne, Nevada.”

“Well, we have 6 days until we need to check and see if there is any response to our
notices for a butcher. How about we go now?”

“Suits me, I’ll go ask Dave how far it is.”

“Two hundred miles from Hawthorne to your bridge. It’s the same way you always came
to Reno except you take 167 just north of Lee Vining. Do you want to go now?”

“We posted a notice for a butcher and have 6 days before we have to go to town and
see if we got any response. It probably would be a good idea to get there before some-
one else comes in and cleans the place out.”

“We should be able to get there in about 4 hours. It depends on the road through Yo-
semite. Figure 4 hours to find what we want and load it and 4 hours home. We should
be back by midnight. Who are we taking along?”

“All of the adult men, Dave. After that little misadventure when I got shot, I don’t want to
go anywhere where there could be trouble without Rob along. I think 6 of us can crowd
into the cab and sleeper.”

“Is there a radio in the semi?”

“I put one of our TS-2000s in there. I took the one out of Sam’s pickup for your trailer
and the one out of Rob’s pickup for the semi.”

“Have you decided what you want?”

130
“5.56, 7.62, .45ACP and grenades. You brought more 9mm than we’ll probably ever
use.”

“If I may make a suggestion, we should get whatever we can find. We might be able to
get some military weapons from an armory. We can prioritize it, but we might find a Ma
Deuce or something in one of those armories.”

“You don’t have any M203s for the M16s, do you?”

“No, but there were 40mm grenades in Hawthorne and again, we might find some in an
armory.”

“We have a closed trailer available.”

“It might be wiser to use it and not advertise what we have.”

“Is that smoke coming from the craters at Mono Lake?”

“It looks like it. Doesn’t look like very much, though. I haven’t felt any earthquakes, have
you?”

“No. I’d better radio April and tell here that there is some minor activity.”

“Didn’t I read somewhere that there is a minor eruption about every 250 years? That’s
what this could be. We’ll be in Hawthorne in about 2 hours. You let her know about it
and we’ll try to hurry a little when we get there. I know where most of the different types
of ammo are stored.”

“That bunker there is 5.56 non-belted. The next one over is 5.56 belted. They just keep
moving up in size and alternating between non-belted and belted. The grenades are in
that far bunker and the 40mm stuff in the bunker next to it. The .50 cal stuff is on the
other side of the road, same arrangement, belted in the first bunker and non-belted in
the second. There are pallet jacks in each bunker. We can back the truck up to that
loading dock over there and drag the pallets to the trailer.”

“That went well, 3 hours to load the truck. It will get us home at 11pm.”

“When we get closer, I’ll give April a call and tell her when to expect us. I wonder if that
little cinder cone at Mono Lake is still acting up?”

131
 A Family Alone – Chapter 26 – Meat Cutter

“Even if it is, it shouldn’t be a problem. If Mammoth Mountain were acting up, I think I’d
be concerned. I didn’t see any smoke in that direction when I looked.”

“See, just a few sparks. About what it was doing when we went up earlier.”

“April, this is Tom, come back.”

“Where are you?”

“Near Lee Vining. The cinder cone at Mono Lake doesn’t seem to have any more activi-
ty now than when we came up this morning.”

“10-4. We haven’t felt any earthquakes. How did you do where you went?”

“We filled the trailer. We’re traveling a little slower than on our way up, but we should be
there by 11.”

“Any trouble?”

“Negative. How about you?”

“None here.”

“Clear.”

“Aren’t you supposed to use call signs?”

“Yes, Dave you are. But anyone with a call sign book could look up the call sign. What’s
the government going to do, arrest us? Most of the people on the air aren’t hams any-
way these days.”

“What are our choices on weapons?”

“Either Fresno ANG, Lemoore NAS, Camp Roberts or Fort Hunter-Liggett.”

“What is the closest besides Fresno?”

“NAS Lemoore.”

“We’ll try there tomorrow. What else is close?”

132
“Camp Roberts.”

“Dave, Camp Roberts had most of the Cal Guard’s shooting ranges. Lemoore is likely to
still have Naval Forces and Marines, regardless of what happened. The Navy trans-
ferred its equipment and units from NAS Miramar to Lemoore.”

“Like I said, Tom, Camp Roberts.”

One can speculate as to Dave’s thinking. Since the facility in Fresno was at the airport,
the odds favored it having been well picked over or destroyed. If NAS Lemoore was an
active Naval and Marine Corps installation, it might have been hit. If not, there were
probably a few Marines around. On the other hand, the state of California wasn’t likely
to have its people at Camp Roberts, training. Why train when they had lots of the real
stuff to practice on? Roberts was likely to have ammo, if not weapons. Now that the
subject has come up, where in the hell was the CNG anyway? The CNG was probably
in Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles, e.g., the capitol and the biggest cities.

The next morning, they headed to Camp Roberts, which was just north of Paso Robles
on US 101. Paso Robles was near the southern end of state route 41. They could pick
up state route 46 off of 41 and take it into Paso Robles and then US 101 north to Camp
Roberts. Good guess, there was no one on the post. They hadn’t taken time to unload
the trailer and had the lowboy. They brought back 2 M2A3 Bradley IFVs, several 5.56
and 7.62 caliber machine guns, 4 of the M2HB machine guns with tripods, M16A2s plus
and all of the other ammo they could carry. The CNG wouldn’t need Bradley’s because
they were in the US, not Iraq.

“Where do you want to station the Bradley’s?”

“How about here on the acreage just on the inside of that row of pine trees?”

“Fine. Make sure they’re ready to go.”

“Gotcha.”

“What’s your experience?”

“I worked at Miller’s in Hyrum, Utah preparing packaged beef products. Got laid off there
and moved to Los Angeles. Worked for Clougherty Packing Company for a while, that’s
the Farmer John brand. Then we moved to Fresno and I cut meat for Costco.”

“Are you a Mormon?”

133
“Is that a problem?”

“No, most of us are Lutherans, but we have two Catholic families. All we have for
Church services is a non-denominational meeting on Sunday mornings.”

“Doesn’t bother me if it doesn’t bother you.”

“How large is your family? All we have available are some 16’x84’ mobile homes for
housing.”

“Sarah and I have 3 children. That ought to be big enough. What do you have for
equipment to process meat? Do you have a walk in cooler, meat saws or anything?”

“About all we have are live animals, Jacob.”

“Are you any relation to Brigham?”

“Oh, the last name? It’s possible, but I don’t think so. I came to Utah from the Midwest,
Nebraska. Started out at IBP.”

“Would you and your family be interested in moving to our acreage?”

“What’s the offer?”

“Housing, food, weapons if you need them, and work. We have a herd of hogs, a boar
and 3 sows, some cattle and are looking for poultry. We need the livestock butchered,
processed and packaged.”

“I probably don’t need any weapons; I have some of my own. I have an idea where you
might get poultry. We’d need to get the stainless steel tables, meat saws and knives
from Costco; they’re just sitting there. I’d need a place to work and you really should
have a walk-in cooler to age the meat and store it until I can cut it up. Do you have a
smokehouse?”

“We converted a refrigerator.”

“That’s probably not big enough. It takes a while to cure the bacon and hams. Costco
sold butcher paper so we can get that there. Do you pay wages?”

“Nominal wages. You won’t need much. Most of your compensation would be the hous-
ing and the food. Don’t forget the security, Jacob. We’re off the beaten path and have
made some preparations.”

“Sarah said it was up to me. Ok, fellas, you have a deal. Do you have any way to move
the things from Costco?”

134
“We have a semi-tractor and two trailers, will that do?”

“Probably. I wonder if we could move the cooler from Costco? Do you have a place to
set it?”

“We’ll find a place. Welcome Jacob. What are your children’s names and ages?”

“Jacob is 16, Robert is 15 and Sarah is 12. Why?”

“We have a couple of teenage girls at the place, 15 and 14.”

“We have our belongings, or what’s left of them, ready to go. When can we come out to
your place?”

“Is tomorrow too soon?”

Add: 7. Jacob and Sarah Young, Jacob (16), Robert (15) and Sarah (12), (5) LDS

It was easy to get most of the things they needed from a gutted Costco. The only real
problem they had was moving the cooler because it was big and heavy. The cooler be-
came the focal point of the slaughtering operation. Once it was set in place and operat-
ing, they build a small building around it, using the cooler as one corner. It turned out
that in his career; Jake had done a bit of everything in the meat packing business so he
knew how to do what they needed done. Jacob hooked them up with a fellow who had
some chickens.

“I was sleeping pretty well until that damned rooster started crowing. It used to be so
quiet out here in the foothills. It’s turned into a damned city.”

“There is safety in numbers, Tom. Besides, we only have one unused trailer so we’ll on-
ly be adding one more family. Manny did well this winter, under his tutelage they man-
aged to clear 5 more acres and put up a lot of lumber and firewood. Did you run out of
electrical panels?”

“The last of them went on the roof of the covered corral, April. We ended up putting the
batteries in two stalls in the barn. I think we solved the problem with the tankers and the
LP tanks. The tanks are in a trench and the trailers are behind the berm we built using
the dirt. If anyone attacks the place, I doubt we’re going to explode.”

“It appears that your arm is fully healed. You aren’t even going to have much of a scar.
Rob said that Shelly definitely is carrying twins. When does the butchering begin?”

“Probably about November. Do we have enough meat to tide us over?”

135
“Yes, even with all of the people we have now. I’ve been getting quite the workout bak-
ing bread for everyone. My limit is about 12 loaves a day. Do you think you could find
me any more of those loaf pans?”

“We can look. How do you manage 12 loaves? The most you every baked before was
6.”

“I start early in the morning and do the first batch. When I put those 6 in the oven, I start
another batch. The second batch goes in the oven during the afternoon and voila, 12
loaves.”

“Tom we have trouble at the bridge.”

“Who is on guard up there?”

“Jacob and Robert. They said over the radio that there were several vehicles.”

“Get everyone except the expectant mothers into the two Bradley’s and let’s go see
what’s going down.”

“This is a private road. What can we do for you?”

“We’re hungry. What are those, tanks?”

“Close enough. How many of you are there?”

“What you see, man. It don’t look like there are many of you.”

“We get by. Where are you from, Fresno?”

“Nah, San Francisco. We gonna stand here all day and talk?”

“Possibly. Can you pay for food?”

The group was about 20 strong, mostly people in their late teens or early 20’s. There
were about 12-14 men and the rest were women, or girls. The men were brandishing
weapons, an assortment of rifles, shotguns, revolvers and pistols. They were positively
filthy and looked like they hadn’t bathed since the attack. Tom’s immediate assessment
was it was a band of punks. Dean leaned over and suggested about the same thing
Tom was thinking: “this group is nothing but trouble.”

136
 A Family Alone – Chapter 27 – Trading Partners

“Dave, what do you think?”

“Shoot them and be done with it.”

“We could possibly trade some food to you, what do you have?”

“We have some gold and silver.”

“Coins?”

“Nah, jewelry and like that.”

“I don’t like the sounds of that,” Dave murmured.

“Me either,” Dean added.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t eat jewelry. We don’t really have that much food anyway. I’m
afraid that we can’t help you.”

The people ended up being trading partners in the end… trading lead. The apparent
leader of the group waived his arm and said, “Take ‘em.” The M242 25mm “Bushmas-
ter” Chain Guns opened up on the attackers. It was all over in the blink of an eye.

“Lower the walking bridge. Rob get your medical kit, we might have some wounded.”

“Man do those cannons, make a mess or what?”

“They’re intended for vehicles, Dean. People aren’t much of a problem. Rob, are any of
them alive?”

“I have 1 dead female and 5 wounded. All of the men are past my help.”

“Are any of them well enough to talk?”

“I’ll send this young lady over, Dad, she’s not badly hurt.”

“What is your name?”

“Janet Barlow. Thanks mister, the 6 of us were prisoners. We were from Tracy. A few
weeks back these men and a bunch more hit part of the town. They killed a lot of people
but the townspeople drove them off. That didn’t do the 6 of us any good. We were in
Church getting things around for a wedding. They grabbed us and… well, you know.”

“Raped?”

137
“And worse. I don’t think I’ll ever feel clean again.”

“Are you hungry Janet?”

“We haven’t eaten in several days. This bunch tried to attack a group in Yosemite and
was run off there too. They only gave us their leftovers.”

“We’ll get you cleaned up, fed and see about getting you back to Tracy, Janet. Garry,
could you check the vehicles and see what condition they’re in?”

“I already did, Tom, they’re toast. We can siphon the fuel and tow them. None of them
will run.”

“Tow them up to the highway and leave them just inside the gate. Rob, what’s the situa-
tion?”

“I lost another one Dad. The other 3 will be ok once I get them patched up a little.”

“How long before we can get them back to Tracy?”

“At least a week.”

“I’ll get the tractor and bury the bodies,” Manny offered.

“I’ll get the guns and ammo,” Dave added.

“We might not be so lucky the next time, you know. They didn’t really have much in the
way of firepower. If we go up against some people who cleaned out an armory, it might
be a different story.”

“While we’re in Tracy, we ought to check out the Defense Logistics Facility.”

The facility in Tracy mostly dealt in perishable foods. However, they came away with
several items in short supply, like sugar, flour, coffee, etc. Janet and the other 3 women
were taken home when they’d healed sufficiently. Tracy had roadblocks set up, so Janet
and the others got out of the vehicle and explained what happened. The folks from Hil-
dreth were allowed access to the Logistics facility by the grateful residents. These folks
became their trading partners. In and around Tracy were several food plants, including
Holly Sugar. That area of the San Joaquin Valley had about 500,000 acres under culti-
vation before the war.

They were able to buy 2 steers that were fat and ready to butcher so Jacob now had
some fresh meat to work with. It would be early winter before their pigs and cattle were

138
big enough to butcher. When that happened, most would have to participate; it would be
a lot of work. Manny buried the bodies up by the road and stuck in homemade crosses,
16 of them. Perhaps this would serve as a warning for the next group that thought about
turning down that road leading to the acreage.

It wasn’t a bad setup, two permanent homes and 6 mobile homes, 5 occupied. Two
barns each capable of holding 8 horses less 2 for the stalls occupied by the battery
racks and a roofed corral to protect the livestock from the elements. There were 2
30,000-gallon propane tanks set in trenches, 2 3,000-gallon (net) propane tanks, 1
18,000-gallon 4 compartment underground tank of stabilized diesel, a 500-gallon un-
derground tank of stabilized gasoline, 24,000 gallons of stabilized diesel fuel in tankers
plus 8,000-gallons of stabilized gasoline. Less usage, of course and don’t forget the
6,000-gallons of propane in the two delivery trucks.

“What do you think about our making a run up and down I-5 looking for tractor trailer
rigs? There are probably a lot of things we could either use or could get and trade to
people who need it.”

“We are short on a few things, Dave. But, I don’t want to turn this acreage into a parking
lot.”

“We could park the trailers on our side of the bridge in that open field, Tom.”

“What type of things did you have in mind to get?”

We can start with basic needs, food, clothing, etc. We ought to keep an eye open for
any more of those mobile homes we could add. When we picked up that iron gas pipe,
we ended up with enough to plumb in more homes.”

“I know one thing that we have to do, Tom. The sinks drain slowly, is your septic system
overloaded?”

“It could be Dean. I tried to anticipate the possibility of growth, but back when I put it in, I
only allowed for 4 families. How big do you think we should make it?”

“I think that would depend on how many septic tanks and how much pipe we could find
for the drain field. It would give us one advantage because the pasture will be the drain
field and the moisture should filter up to the crops.”

“Manny, what will you need for equipment to put in a drain field?”

“A trencher, Tom. Putting in the drain lines using a backhoe could take all summer.”

“Summer is half gone, I guess we’d better look for a trencher.”

139
“We’re still shorthanded here. Jacob will need some time to butcher the meat. So that
just leaves the 3 of us, plus Garry, Rob and Jacob’s two boys.”

“Not really, Dean. We need the boys and the girls to staff the bridge guard detail. It will
just be the 5 of us.”

“How do you want to handle it? We only have the one tractor that runs. I suppose we
could take a Bradley but their top speed is only 45mph.”

“I can work on that, Dad,” Garry offered. “The M6 Bradley Linebacker can go almost
55mph.”

“That would be fast enough, Garry, thanks.”

“I think we could take the semi-tractor and another,” Dave suggested. “Those Bradley
are tracked vehicles, not highway vehicles. If Garry can get the tractor on the trailers to
run, so much the better. We should only plan on 4 of us if Manny will be expanding the
septic system.”

“All of which only points to that fact that we don’t have enough people here.”

“Let’s get what Manny needs first from Fresno. Then the 4 of us can start looking. I sup-
pose we could put up another notice like the one that we used to find Jacob and his
family.”

“Right, Wanted – A few good men and women.”

“Something like that except we ought to consider the skills we need and only look for
people in select occupations.”

“Like what?”

“Perhaps law enforcement, they would be used to dealing with trouble. Military combat
veterans would get a preference. We could use more agricultural workers, Manny is
spread too thin as it is. If we could find a carpenter or someone with construction expe-
rience, great, and it would be useful to get a plumber and an electrician. Whoever we
get will need to wear more than one hat.”

“We could advertise for military combat veterans and peace officers only. The vets
could be our plumber, electrician, carpenter and farmers. The cops could be our securi-
ty force.”

“I’ll ask April to get with Shelly and write something up.”

“How is she doing?”

140
“Shelly? We she says that she needs more spigots, they didn’t plan on triplets.”

“How are they managing that?”

“Samantha is nursing the other baby.”

“How did you miss the third heartbeat Rob?”

“I just assumed that one of the babies had moved.”

“It’s nice and quiet in the shelter,” Tom laughed. “You can’t hear the chickens crowing,
the hogs squealing, the horses whinnying, the cows mooing or the babies crying.”

They had their work cut out for them. They decided that 10 more mobile homes were
about their limit because it would put their expanded septic system to capacity. With the
8 homes and two shelters they already had they couldn’t really go beyond 18 homes.
From mid-year until winter, they scrounged.

“Hey kid, how are you doing? Did you get that badge and gun you wanted?”

“Deputy Martin? I thought you went fishing.”

“I did, but it wasn’t all that entertaining and then TSHTF. It took me and my family a
while to get back to Madera.”

“Where were you?”

“Seattle. Whoever attacked the country put a couple of nukes in there, probably trying to
take out the Navy. We came back here via eastern Washington, Oregon and Nevada.
How about you? What’s new?”

“I was in my first full year with the Team when TSHTF. I am a Paramedic and am all the
people on the acreage have for medical care.”

“Married, single? I went to your sister’s wedding.”

141
 A Family Alone – Chapter 28 – Growth Spurt

“I married my sister-in-law, Shelly. We have 3 children, triplets. Sam and Garry have 3
kids, too. Garry’s folks, Dean and Avis, moved to the acreage. You wouldn’t know the
place anymore. A friend of Dean and Dad’s from Reno moved in too. We added a man
and his family from a farm up north where we got the farm equipment. Then, we added
a meat cutter from Costco to butcher our meat. We are presently looking for some vet-
erans, a carpenter, a plumber, an electrician and some farmers. Dad and the others de-
cided to try and attract some law enforcement officer’s for our security team.”

“My two sons were police officers in Seattle, will they do? They’re both married with
families.”

“I expect so, if they’re anything like you. Everyone is going to have to do more than one
thing, you know. If you know any veterans who meet our needs, it would help.”

“I’ve been gone too long Rob and I don’t have any idea who made it through the attack
and who didn’t. Do you have room for my boys and us?”

“You remember where the acreage is, right? About two miles down the road where that
little bridge crossed that gully, we put in a drawbridge. Just tell the people who you are
and they’ll radio for instructions.”

“Have you had much trouble?”

“A little, you’ll pass their bodies on the way in. We’re big on advertising.”

Manny was in charge of interviewing any prospective agricultural workers. He ended up

hiring 3 veterans who had farmed. The men and their families were survivors but in the
aftermath of the war and all of the looting, etc. had been driven from their farms. By late
fall, they had found their electrician, plumber, carpenter and 2 more married police offic-
ers. All of the 18 homes were finally occupied.

“How many hogs are you butchering?”

“18. We can breed the females and have plenty next year.”

“What about beef?”

“After I get the pork processed, we’ll butcher the 2 steers. We can breed the heifers and
have more beef next year too. After that, I’ll do the chickens.”

“Darn, Jake, you’ll be cutting up meat for a couple of months before you’re all done.”

142
“I’ll have it all done before the end of the year Tom, do you have enough freezer space
for 18 hogs, 2 steers and 200 chickens?”

“I don’t believe we do. I think maybe we’ll have to go shopping again. If each family has
a freezer do you think we’ll have enough room?”

“It should be enough. The average person eats 60 pounds of beef, 50 pounds of pork,
60 pounds of chicken, 15 pounds of turkey and 15 pounds of fish a year. We’ll be a little
short this year but right on track next year. You can figure the yield on a beef around
700 pounds and a hog maybe 120 pounds of retail cuts plus the lard. You can figure a
family of four will eat a chicken, probably an average of 52 times a year. The way I fig-
ure it, we’ll be way short on meat this year, about break even next year and have some
to sell the following year. One beef will feed about 10 people per year. One hog will feed
2 people per year. We’ll need close to 1,000 chickens to round that out.”

“Well, how many people do we have? April, you been keeping track, haven’t you?”

“Yes. Here’s the list:”

01. Tom and April Henson (2) Owners Bakers

02. Dean and Avis Owens (2) Co-owners Bakers
03. Garry and Samantha Owens, Paul, Caroline and Laura (5) Mechanical
04. Rob and Shelly Henson, Greg, David and April (5) Medical
05. Manny and Salina Cortez, Paulo and Maria (4) Chief Agricultural
06. Dave and Mary Williams, Kelly and Amy (4) Chief Security
07. Jacob and Sarah Young, Jacob, Robert and Sarah (5) Chief Food Processing
08. James and Rosemary Martin (2) Security
09. James and Jeanie Martin, James and Joanne (4) Security
10. Gene and Patricia Martin, Howard, Andrew and Jeanine (5) security
11. Sam and Donna Roberts, Thomas and James (4) Plumbing
12. Harry and Jen Olsen, Remy and Sandra (4) Carpentry
13. Bill and Mary Jones, Bill and Sally (4) Agricultural
14. John and Geena Davis, Jack and Shirley (4) Electrical
15. Carlos and Maria Sanchez, Carlos, Teresa, Maria and Sabrina (6) Agricultural
16. Roger and Ann Williams, Gary and Sara (4) Security
17. Dan and Dana Howe, Danny and Sheila (4) Agricultural
18. Terry and June Eller, Paula, Brenda and Calvin (5) Security

“73 people? That’s an average population of just over 4 persons per house. It will take
7-8 head of cattle, 36 hogs and about 950 chickens. Plus fish and what, maybe 18 tur-
keys?”

“That’s about right, Tom,” Jacob agreed. “So as you can see, we’re short on everything
this year. We haven’t gotten any turkeys, yet.”

“I guess we’re going to be eating a lot of pasta.”

143
°

A trip to an appliance dealer’s place of business that hadn’t been destroyed by the nuke
provided 14 operating freezers. Every family now had one, but they sure weren’t full.
Each family got a slab of bacon, a ham and a smoked picnic and the other cuts off ½ a
hog. The beef was only enough for 20 people so it was allocated, as were the chickens.
The average layer produces about 260 eggs a year. Old laying hens become those bak-
ing hens you see in a grocery or end up in other products like hot dogs, etc. A fryer is an
entirely different chicken, with little body fat. They would need a minimum of 1,000 ferti-
lized eggs a year to produce fryers and replacement chickens, possibly more. This was
an agricultural problem of mammoth proportions. They could try seining fish from the
lakes to the east, but that wasn’t a sure fire solution. The only solution seemed to be to
try and buy more meat from the folks up in the Tracy area; they had a lot of beef.

“Jacob, we bought 10 heifers and 5 steers, will that make up for the beef shortage?”

“It will, but did you get any chickens or hogs? We could still use 18 hogs and about 700
chickens.”

“We can get the hogs but I don’t think we can get the chickens, unless we want to settle
for old laying hens.”

“The only difference I can see is that we bake them instead of frying them. Maybe next
year, we can produce enough fryers. And, if we’re going to have baking hens, we can
probably get by with about 500.”

“Do you have enough help?”

“I’m teaching Jake and Bob. It doesn’t take that long to learn to do some of the things. I
was planning on stretching the beef by adding tallow, but since you have 5 more steers,
I won’t need to do that. You didn’t happen to see any old dairy cows, perchance?”

“We did, what do you need those for?”

“Boneless beef to add to the ground meat.”

“We’ll get a couple, will that be enough?”

“It should, yes. Thanks, Dean.”

“Jim, what is our security situation?”

144
“Tom, there are enough weapons to go around. We have more ammo than we’ll proba-
bly need. I’ve been working with the other security people to get everyone up to speed
on the weapons. Mind if I ask you a question?”

“Not at all, what?”

“Have Dean and you had these weapons all along?”

“Since before the turn of the century for most of them. We picked up the heavy stuff
from Camp Roberts and around. Does that bother you?”

“Not really, I was just curious. I don’t suppose with the situation the way it is in the coun-
try it makes much difference.”

“I hope not. We haven’t seen any of the Cal Guard or military since the balloon went up,
where are they?”

“Probably mostly in the large cities. The attacks wiped a lot of the refining capacity and
they have real fuel shortages. I noticed that you don’t have that problem here.”

“It took a lot of trips and a lot of work to marshal all of the resources we have. The pro-
pane came from Mammoth Lake to begin with. When we had their 30,000-gallons we
went to a second source to fill the other tank. April and I had an 18,000-gallon tank of
diesel fuel, 2 3,000-gallon propane tanks and 500-gallons of gas. The other fuel came
off I-5. It’s all out there for the taking, but by now, I’d guess that someone has collected
most of the things on the interstates. From here on out, if we can’t produce it, we’re go-
ing to be going without. Actually, Jim, I thought you were going to ask me something
else.”

“Tom, I figured that all out 4 years ago about the time I retired.”

“Good, it’s been on my mind for a very long time.”

“You did what you had to. Samantha and Rob turned out well.”

“Are all cops so understanding?

“I wouldn’t count on it if I were you. I had to manage one Deputy.”

Murphy had been by once or twice, first when Tom had been shot and again when
those creeps showed up at the bridge. No doubt Murphy would be back. A person
couldn’t really count on some hunters not stumbling onto the acreage while they were
out trying to find meat. With the extra help, Manny cleared 15 additional acres during
the winter, increasing the size of the farm to 60 acres. The additional 20 acres would

145
allow them to grow alfalfa, corn, oats, barley and wheat plus one additional crop every
year. The extra milk became cheese.

Talking to Jim Martin finally let Tom put the shooting to rest. It had eaten at him for the
entire time since it had happened. Although he felt justified in what he had to do, there
had been that nagging feeling that someone would figure out what really happened. He
wasn’t worried so much about April, Rob and Sam, but Martin had always bothered him.
Which was perhaps as it should be. One should never take the killing of another human
being, no matter how despicable, lightly. The matter was now closed for everyone.
There were far greater concerns now than those long ago events.

“Again? They have 3 in diapers now.”

“Well, they’ll almost be out of diapers by the time this one is born.”

“Only 1 April? Do you promise?

“I’ll do no such thing, Tom Henson. Rob and Shelly are such a nice couple.”

“And Sam and Garry aren’t?”

“I didn’t say that. What are you doing, spoiling for a fight?”

“Sorry. Are Garry and Sam expecting too?”

“No, but Salina is.”

“I’ll have to talk to Jacob and tell him 8 beef, 37 hogs and 1,000 chickens. Or, are some
of the other women expecting?”

“Not that I know of. You’ve been grumpy ever since we turned 50. Something wrong?”

“There is a lot wrong April. I never figured on anyone attacking this country with nuclear
weapons. I know we were prepared for it, but I never believed that it would happen. The
government can’t seem to get its act together and help anyone either. We don’t need
helping, but the survivors from Fresno sure do. There were probably 80% of the people
killed in the attack and the aftermath. And, unless my math is screwy, that means that
about 200,000 survivors lost their homes. We have been unbelievably lucky that more
of them didn’t show up here at the acreage.”

“Tom, do we even have a government? What’s the difference one way or another?
We’re pretty self-sufficient now. Next year when we butcher, we have all the meat we
need. And the gardens are producing well.”

146
 A Family Alone – Chapter 29 – Child Soldiers

“It’s not that we’re short of food, in fact, we’re not really short of anything at the moment.
You fellas did very well on I-5. We could be worse off, couldn’t we?”

“I suppose. But you do realize that over half of the people here are youngsters, don’t
you?”

“True, but not all of them are little kids. I figure that the kids who are 14 and up can
probably be taught to use firearms. That will increase our defense force by about half.”

“Awfully young to turn them into killers, April.”

“It could end up being kill or be killed. You talk to Jim and his sons about it; they proba-
bly have the most law enforcement experience.”

“It’s a sound idea up to a point Tom. We’ll have to take it on a case-by-case basis. The
boys and I can start them on the range after the usual safety lecture and teaching the
operations of the weapons. What kind of weapons did you have in mind?”

“Maybe the bigger boys could use the M1As or M14s, but I’m inclined to give most of
the young people M16s. It has a lighter recoil and they can transport more ammo.”

“Can we spare ammo for practice?”

“Yeah, we have plenty of the 5.56. We have less 7.62×51mm. We happen to be long on
9mm, Rob got 16 of the Beretta 92FSs from the Sheriff’s armory. You might want to
train them on those as well.”

“What about the machine guns?”

“We have several veterans. I’d prefer that they use those if we need to employ them.
This was more April’s idea than mine to be perfectly honest. But it might boost our de-
fense force by up to 18 people. I’m not sure about the parents and how they will feel
about their children having guns.”

“How old was Rob when you started in with firearms?”

“Twelve, but that was different. I had time for one on one instruction. Sam was 2 years
older and every time Rob got a new firearm, she got the same thing.”

“I understand from Dean that his kids were about the same age. What about those girls
from Tracy I heard about? Would having guns made a difference in their situation?”

147
“It’s possible, I suppose, but they were in a Church when they were kidnapped. They
wouldn’t have been likely to take their guns to Church with them even if they had guns
at the time.”

“Different times call for different rules, my friend.”

“You can check with Dave about the weapons. Rob even gave him the Berettas. This is
one decision that I’m going to stay out of. I don’t want to be the one to tell a family that
their child was killed.”

“We have a backhoe, right?”

“Yes.”

“How about you have Manny or someone dig a trench about 5 yards behind the gully? It
would make a good fighting position for everyone.”

“I speak to him about it.”

“So how far back?”

“Jim suggested about 5-yards. Make it about 4’ deep and you can pile the dirt in front of
the trench.”

“Do you want me to put a trench around the entire acreage? I have help now and can
spare the time.”

“If you think it’s a good idea, Manny, do it. Do the gully first though. After that, it’s up to
you.”

“Not feeling well, boss?”

“I’m ok; I just hate all of the responsibility.”

“Maybe you should share it with Dean. He’s a very nice man. Always treated me and my
family with much respect.”

“Dean, got a moment?”

“Sure, Tom, what’s up?”

148
“This whole thing is getting to me. Would you be interested in being my associate direc-
tor? There seem to be dozens of decisions to make every day and my cup runneth
over.”

“Thanks for asking, I’d be delighted. If there is something that requires both of our think-
ing, I run it by you first but it will be a joint decision. Something special brothering you at
the moment?”

“Arming and training the teenagers to help defend the acreage.”

“Good idea, they’re old enough. Who is going to train them?”

“Jim Martin and his sons.”

“The young people will be fine. They won’t have to walk around with rifles, we can set
up a rifle rack of some kind.”

“I also mentioned the Beretta pistols to Jim.”

“We didn’t carry a rifle and a pistol when we were in the Army. It might be good to train
the kids to use them, but I don’t believe that I’d issue them. Or, if I did, it would be the
same deal, stored until needed.”

“You might want to run that by Jim. I’m going home and take a nap.”

“A nap? Not feeling well?”

“Overwhelmed. Getting and staying prepared is one thing. Actually needing to use your
preparations is quite another thing. You know, Dean with 73 people and more on the
way, we don’t have enough shelter space.”

“What brought that up, Tom? The war in over.”

“Remember when we went to Hawthorne? That cinder cone at Mono Lake was spouting
ash.”

“That was a while back Tom and nothing happened.”

“Yet.”

“Jim, Tom talked to me and we’re dividing responsibility for the acreage.”

“Good, he’s worried. Did he tell you about our training the young people to use fire-
arms?”

149
“That’s half of the reason why I’m here. Could we rack the rifles and the handguns? No
matter how well they’re trained, their still kids.”

“I had planned on that, Dean. What’s the second thing you wanted to discuss?”

“The shelters. Tom said with 73 people and more on the way we needed to expand our
shelter capacity.”

“We might. Any ideas?”

“I don’t remember where, but south of here a ways is a company that manufactures the
large corrugated steel pipe. Back when I put my shelter in, I talked to the folks at Utah
Shelter Systems and visited their website. The largest installation they mentioned was 6
of the large corrugated steel pipes interconnected. I don’t see why we couldn’t intercon-
nect more. Provided we could find the pipe. The air filters Tom and I have are each rat-
ed to supply air for 50 people. We might need fans to circulate the air, but we could
make it work.”

“Maybe you should look into the possibilities Dean. What’s Tom worried about? I can’t
believe that we’d have another war.”

“When we went to Hawthorne to get the munitions, one of the cinder cones at Mono
Lake was spouting ash.”

“Hmm. We don’t have the USGS to give us any warning these days. It’s something to
think about. How far apart do you put the culverts?”

“The distance between the culverts is the diameter of the largest pipe. We’d try and find
10’ or 12’ culvert if we decided to do it. The way we built this place up, I not sure where
we could put them.”

“Good point, Dean, I don’t know where we could put them either.”

“How long did I sleep?”

“It’s tomorrow, Tom. Want something to eat?”

“I’m not very hungry, is there coffee made?”

“It just finished dripping, honey; I’ll get you a cup.”

“I got Dean to take over part of the responsibility for managing the acreage.”

150
“That’s a good start.”

“I had a very strange dream, April. It was about a monolithic dome. That might be our
answer to providing enough shelter for everyone.”

“Do you know how to build one?”

“Basically you put in a foundation and then you need a balloon type of form. I read an
article. You spray the form with foam insulation to strengthen it and it gives you a place
to attach the rebar. Then, they spray the whole thing with shotcrete. I saw pictures, but I
don’t know if we could do it.”

“There’s concrete in Madera. You could get rebar a dozen different places. Make a list
of materials you might need and look in the yellow pages. You won’t know until you
look, will you?”

“Dean I have an idea on a solution to our shelter problem. Could you take things over
while I check it out?”

“Sure. What idea?”

“A dome. The strongest natural shape is a sphere. A dome is just ½ a sphere. We

wouldn’t need to worry about how much overpressure or weight accumulated on it.”

“Still worried about Long Valley?”

“Not like I was, no. If I could figure this out, we’d be completely safe, regardless of what
happened. I’m going to talk to Harry Olsen and see if he knows anything about con-
structing domes.”

“Most of the people that put those domes in are specialized contractors, Tom,” Harry
replied. “I worked on the initial forming stages of one back in 2008. Can’t say as I re-
member much about the process though. About all I can tell you is that we put in a base
or foundation and then they had this inflatable form. Oh, one thing I do remember. This
was a double dome. Because of the damned earthquakes, they build a dome shaped
cup to build the actual dome on. The idea was that the dome wouldn’t sink if there was
liquefaction of the soil.”

Tom searched his computer looking for the term dome. He thought he’d saved some
files that had copies of plans in them a very long time ago. He got about 50 hits and had
to go through the files one by one. He finally found the plan, but it wasn’t for a house, it
was for a church. It would comfortably seat 200 people. It was a start and perhaps he
could scale back the plan. Well maybe not, they had only 4 people for a while and then
it went to 8, 10 and now 73 with more on the way.

151
 A Family Alone – Chapter 30 – Dome

From the plans, Tom developed a list of materials. Thank God he hadn’t thrown the
Fresno Yellow pages away. In time he had everything he needed located, except for the
inflatable form.

“Harry, who built that dome you worked on?”

“A company out of Idaho, Domtec.”

“Do you remember where in Idaho?”

“Idaho Falls, I think, due north of Salt Lake City. I remember because one of the guys
was complaining about the Mormons.”

“Dave, do you feel like going on a scavenging trip?”

“Anytime, where?”

“Idaho Falls, Idaho.”

“Where the hell is that?”

“The same place it’s always been, I have a road map; its north of Salt Lake City.”

“That’s where, but why?”

“I’d like to see if we could find a company named Domtec. Harry says that he worked on
a dome they built.”

“What do we want a dome for?”

“Believe it or not, I had a dream. A dome gives you the most square feet of space in the
smallest footprint plus it is very strong. You probably heard that I’ve been concerned
about the lack of shelter for all of our people. I have a plan on my computer for a church
built as a concrete dome. It was up in Canada, not that it makes any difference. April got
me to searching the Yellow Pages and if we can get the form, we might be able to con-
struct a dome.”

“We’re going to need to be careful going to Idaho, that’s Survivalist Central.”

“Anyone who survived the war has probably become a survivalist. Look at us. If I had
read what we’re doing in a dime store novel, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

“The Cal guard finally showed up in Fresno.”

152
“It took them long enough.”

“They immediately began to set up camps. I don’t want any part of that, Tom. We’d bet-
ter avoid Fresno from now on. How do you plan to get to Idaho Falls?”

“I think maybe the shortest way would be to go to Sacramento, pick up I-80 and take it
to Wells, Nevada. We could pick up US 93 in Wells and take it to Twin Falls, Idaho. We
could pick up I-86 there and take it to I-15 and then drive the rest of the way into Idaho
Falls. I estimate it to be 920-925 miles. About 14-15 hours.”

“Provided we don’t have any trouble on the way.”

“Right, provided.”

“Can I help you people?”

“Do you work for Domtec?”

“That’s right, we’re closed.”

“We want a dome built.”

“You should have done that before the war, mister. Like I said, we’re closed.”

“Look, my name is Tom Henson and we’re from the Fresno, California area. I’ve located
all of the materials to build a concrete dome but don’t have the form. We came up here
looking for the form because one of our residents worked on a project that you did in
California.”

“Has anyone in your group built a dome before?”

“No. The only shelters we have were those made out of corrugated steel pipe. Our
group has grown and we don’t have enough space to shelter everyone.”

“If I could get a crew together, could you provide extra labor?”

“Some, does it take a lot?”

“Not really. You have the materials? The spray foam insulation, rebar, and shotcrete?”

“Have it or can get it.”

“It’s a long way to Fresno. Assuming I could put a crew together, how would you pay
us?”

153
“How would you want to be paid?”

“Food, lodging, replacement fuel and some of the coin of the realm.”

“That being?”

“Gold, silver, diamonds.”

“Fine, when can you begin?”

“You didn’t ask how much.”

“It doesn’t matter, we’ve been salvaging since the war. I’m sure that we can provide ad-
equate compensation.”

“I’ll tell you anyway, Tom. It will run you 18 ounces of gold. Our crew is 6 men. I figure
that 3 ounces apiece ought to be fair compensation. Plus the food, lodging and fuel.”

“What do you think Dean?”

“It was your idea, Tom. We have enough of what they want, so if you want to do it, I say
you should just agree and get it done. We sure as hell can’t build a dome by ourselves.”

“The cost would be $27,000 just for their labor and forms. Probably more like $30 grand
once we count the food, fuel and whatever else they want.”

“Tom, if you’re convinced this is the way to go, I agree with Dean. Just do it.”

“Ok, you have a deal. When can you start?”

“Give me a week or two to locate a crew and then time to get to Fresno. How do I find
this place of yours?”

“We’re north of Fresno on highway 41. The name of the place is Hildreth on the map,
but there isn’t much to see. When you get there, you’ll see a gated asphalt road going to
the west. The gate is closed, but not locked. About 2 miles further on, you’ll come to a
drawbridge. Stop there and identify yourselves to the guards. They’ll radio us and we’ll
come get you.”

“How about some up-front money?”

“We can pay you ⅓ when you arrive, ⅓ when you’re half done and the rest when you
finished.”

“Fine, see you in a couple of weeks. My name is Ron Johnson, by the way.”

154
“Fine Ron, we’ll be waiting for you. Give me a list of what you need and we’ll try to as-
semble everything in the next 2 weeks.”

“Where are we going to get that much shotcrete? Are you sure that we can get every-
thing that Ron said he needed?”

“I’ve got everything covered. I’ll get Rob and Garry to help me and we start gathering
the materials.”

“I think maybe Tom is losing it, Dean.”

“Nah, he just has the bit in his teeth like I used to do. Once I got involved in a project all
my troubles went away and I focused on what I was doing. He told me that he had more
than enough Krugerrands to pay for their labor so it isn’t costing us a thing. We can wait
and see how it turns out. I know that I’m going to cover my share of the project if it looks
ok. I would only be 1 Krugerrand per family. I’ll give Tom 2, one for Avis and me and
one for Garry and Sam. If you have gold, Dave, you might want to consider doing the
same. It wouldn’t be right for Tom to bear the entire expense.”

“How are we on other things, Dean?”

“Good crops this year. That means we’re in good shape on food. The livestock-breeding
program went well and we ended up with extra pork to sell. I also think that Jake said
that we have about 1,200 chickens to butcher. That should about fill up our freezers.
Anything we don’t have room for, we can sell.”

“Sell to whom? The military or Cal Guard?”

“Nope, to people who didn’t go into those stupid camps. The people who did that are
probably the liberals who expected the government to save them. I’m not impressed
with their inability to take care of themselves.”

“I hope that they don’t end up here looking to round us up and try to put us in one of
those places.”

“Crazy, isn’t it? They took all of that time in the major cities and ignored the smaller
communities like Fresno. When they finally did show up, all they wanted to do was stick
the survivors in a camp, and collect all of their things. More than one family refused to
go because they were collecting the firearms and food. And they weren’t holding it for
you, they were confiscating it.”

155
“We have people at the drawbridge, look alive people.”

“It must be that construction crew from Idaho.”

“Like hell it is. It’s the military and they have a tank.”

“Let’s leave the Bradley’s here and just take the pickups. I don’t want them to get any
ideas about what resources we might have at our disposal.”

“Ok, Jim, whatever you suggest. I’m going to circle around behind them and prepare a
little surprise, just in case.”

“Ok with me Dave, what did you have in mind?”

“The weakest spot on a tank is the rear, Jim. I picked up 2 M-47 Super Dragons Anti-
Tank Guided Missiles at Hawthorne. If they don’t want to play by our rules, I can give
them something to think about.”

“Check what I said. Let’s take the Bradley’s after all. I didn’t know we had any anti-tank
missiles.”

“I only have 2. If they didn’t bring more than 2 tanks, we might get the drop on them.”

“My name is Tom Henson, can I help you?”

“You can start by lowering the drawbridge, Henson.”

“Why would we want to do that?”

“So we can get on your side and inspect the contents of those semi-trailers you have
parked over there.”

“Captain, there is nothing in those trailers that you need. We spent the better part of a
year gathering those materials and they are for our use. We don’t require the help of the
military, so we aren’t prepared to share what we have.”

156
 A Family Alone – Chapter 31 – Murphy Returns

“I see that you commandeered 2 Bradley’s.”

“We did do that. It was part of the Taxpayer’s Relief Act of 2017. Where do you get off
coming here and making demands? Where were you when we really needed your help?
It’s been at least 3 years since the war.”

“I’m afraid that I’m going to have to insist, Henson. Get your people out of the Bradley’s
and lower the drawbridge.”

“And, if I decline?”

“A Bradley can’t stand up against an Abrams.”

“True. Let me ask you a question Captain.”

“What?”

“Can an Abrams stand up against a M47 Super Dragon?”

“Is that a threat Henson?”

“It’s a simple question Captain. If you persist in pressing the matter, you may get the
opportunity to learn if it is a threat. How many people are there inside of an Abrams
tank? 4? They are American soldiers just doing their job, right? Is it their job to defend
or destroy the Constitution?”

“This is a National Emergency. My authority comes from Executive Orders of the Presi-
dent.”

“The Emergency happened 3 years ago. Go help people who need helping, Captain.”

“Captain? You’d better listen to the man and stop acting like some nugget,” the Ser-
geant First Class suggested. “There is a man behind us with one Dragon ready to fire
and another laying on the ground.”

“PREPARE TO FIRE,” Tom instructed loudly enough for all to hear.

“Wait a minute, Henson, let’s talk.”

“Feel free to say Goodbye, Captain.”

“Wait.”

157
“I’m waiting.”

“Sergeant, stand the tank down.”

“Sir,” the man grinned.

“Lower the walking bridge Rob.”

“It will take a minute, Dad.”

“Captain, if you lose the sidearm, you can come over and we’ll talk.”

The Captain was reluctant; he wasn’t used to having a civilian telling him what to do.
Eventually he realized that he was in no position to do anything else. He took his pistol
out of its holster and handed it to the Sergeant. He didn’t hurry across the footbridge
because he needed time to think.

“Captain, most of us are veterans and/or peace officers. We didn’t go to you; you came
here. We’ve managed to survive that stupid damned war and to get on with our lives.
We don’t need or want you here. As you’ve just seen we have a few surprises. Who
knows, we might have more? Why don’t you just get your soldiers and go back to Fres-
no and care for the sheeple you have in that camp of yours? I’m telling you as plainly as
possible, leave us alone. Those 2 Bradley’s didn’t belong to the Army; they belonged to
the California National Guard. If they needed or wanted them, they wouldn’t have left
them sitting where we found them.”

“The security we’ve established is beyond anything you can imagine. You can’t get on
our small farm without paying a heavy price. We’re all Americans who still believe in and
defend the Constitution. You’re free to go, just don’t come back.”

Tom turned on his heel and went to one of the Bradley’s. The Captain got his men and
left. They weren’t sure that he wouldn’t be back. That would probably depend on wheth-
er that Sergeant could pound some sense into his thick head. You could have heard a
pin drop but for the sound of the vehicles as they started up and left.

“I’ll have to hand it to you; Tom that Captain will be farting smoke for 2 hours.”

“Let’s just hope he takes my advice and doesn’t come back. The last damn thing I want
to do is get into it with soldiers just doing their jobs.”

“I’m not aware that we have any other weapons more powerful than those two anti-tank
missiles, what did you threaten him with?”

“Just the Constitution; I didn’t even know Dave brought those missiles back from Haw-
thorne. Even when the Supreme Court said a few years back they could take away your

158
property, they still had to go through Due Process in the form of an Eminent Domain
proceeding. If they come in here with a Brigade, we can’t stop them, but to tell you the
truth, if that happened, I’m not so sure I’d want to be an American any more. We’d bet-
ter come up with an alternate plan in case that happens. And, if any of you disagree
with what I told him either you can leave or April and I will.”

“What was that all about, Dad?”

“I’ve had all of the do-gooders and liberals I can take Rob. I meant every word. Anyway
those folks from Idaho should be here in a day or two and we’ll get that dome erected.”

“Dean, do you have a moment?”

“Sure Dave what’s up?”

“There was a bunker full of TOW missiles at Hawthorne. I think I’m going to get a couple
people and go get them. If we’re going to end up squaring off against the Army, I want
some real firepower. Can you cover for me for a day while I’m gone?”

“Gone where? I thought you were out checking the crops.”

“Thanks, we’ll leave immediately and with any luck we’ll be back later tonight.”

“Where did Dave go Dean?”

“Well, I’ll tell you, Tom, I told him I’d say he was checking the crops, but to tell you the
truth, he’s off on a little mission to back up the claims you made to that Captain.”

“Going back to Hawthorne for the TOW missiles is he?”

“You do pay attention, I wondered about you sometimes. Is the dome because you ex-
pect Long Valley to blow?”

“I have no information to suggest that it will, but being prepared is about anticipating
events, not waiting for them to happen. I explained to April, once, that it isn’t likely that
the caldera will blow. And the last major eruption 760,000 years ago sent all of the ash
to the east. It will be tough enough if it does go just protecting our livestock. I don’t want
to worry about the people too.”

“You pretty much threw down the gauntlet for that Captain.”

“I didn’t do it for the Captain, Dean. That Sergeant First Class didn’t miss one word I told
his boss. You were in the Army, who really runs the services anyway?”

“I suppose the NCOs, Tom. They’re the people that have to implement all of the orders.”

159
“My thinking exactly. That Captain was probably some ROTC officer who was in the
Reserves and got called to active duty. I can’t tell you if he was just doing his best to do
his job or had his head stuck up his butt. Either way, he might think twice before he
bothers us. I half suspect that FEMA is behind what’s happening anyway. There was an
accumulation of Executive Orders going back several years that gave them God like
powers in the case of a National Emergency.”

“You don’t go half way do you?”

“Hell no. It was like that trouble with those punks that had the girls from Tracy. We could
have used the coaxial machine guns but we used the 25mm chain guns. Never take a
knife to a gunfight, partner. The shells went right through those punks and destroyed
their vehicles giving us two victories for every shell.”

“The guys from Idaho are here.”

“Someone show them back to the acreage and let’s get this show on the road.”

“Nice, fancy setup. Where do you want the dome built? And we’re here so I’d appreciate
our traveling money.”

“Here you go Ron, 6 Krugerrands. We want to put the dome in over there between the
trees and the house to the right of our lane to the houses. We weren’t sure how you
wanted the area prepared so we held off. Our construction guys suggested that since
this is earthquake country, we’d want the dome sitting on its own dome in case the soil
liquefied.”

“I hadn’t counted on that, Tom. We can do it without a problem but it will take more time
and materials. Can you handle another 3 Krugerrands?”

“I can. And we got extra materials. Are you going to use wet or dry shotcrete?”

“Either way, the dry method is stronger, but it is slightly more time consuming.”

“And naturally will cost more right?”

“Yes, but maybe we can work something out. You don’t have any more of the Bradley’s
do you?”

“I can tell you where to get some and where to get the ammo.”

“Good enough. Forget the 3 Krugerrands if you can help us come up with two of those
and the ammo.”

160
“I should warn you Ron. The Army came calling a couple of days back. We ran them off
but for all I know they’ll be back.”

“Could we get the Bradley’s first? They might end up coming in handy.”

“Sure. You tell Manny and Harry what you need in the way of grading and we’ll go after
them tomorrow. One of our people went after some TOW missiles and there are some
of the Bradley’s that were already set up for TOWs. In fact I think there might have been
4. So maybe we can kill two birds with one stone and get some for both of us.”

“Is there plenty of ammo available for the chain guns?”

“We get it from a training range for the Cal Guard. You might be surprised.”

“We don’t really need TOW missiles, Tom. It might be difficult for us to get a resupply. If
we could just get a couple of the standard M2A3 Bradley’s that would suit us.”

“Well, we’ll give you ours and keep the 4 we get from the camp then. I’ll take care of that
and you can go ahead and get started on the Dome.”

“Jim, we need four of the Bradley’s from Camp Roberts. Could you organize some peo-
ple to go get them?”

“The same models as you have?”

“No. They have a model equipped to launch TOW missiles, the CFVs. Dave went to
Hawthorne to get a supply of the missiles. We could also use all of the 25mm ammo
you can bring back. You’ll be able to distinguish the latter model Bradley’s because they
have a pair of tubes to launch the TOW missiles.”

“You know where we ought to go, don’t you? Barstow/Yermo.”

“I’m just afraid that it’s much too long after the attacks, Jim. By now I’m sure that the
Marine Corps has that place under lock and key. If we could have gotten out of the shel-
ters sooner, that might have been a viable option. We’d better settle for what we can get
instead of what we want.”

“We’ll have to empty that lowboy up by the bridge so we can haul all four of the Brad-
ley’s. How much ammo do you want?”

“Every last bit your people can transport. There were several thousand rounds.”

161
 A Family Alone – Chapter 32 – Evening the Odds

“Ron, you and your men can eat with April and me. She just baked bread today; you
might be in for a treat.”

“What do you have for accommodations?”

“We pulled in 2 more mobile homes. They’re 3 bedroom and everything is hooked up
and operating. There is one on either end of the row of homes. Feel free to help your-
selves.”

“Good bread, thanks Mrs. Henson. You folks have quite the setup here. It looks like you
have enough livestock to feed everyone.”

“We’ll even have enough to sell when we butcher in November.”

“Who do you sell to, the Army?”

“No and especially not after the trouble we had with them a few days back. Tom said
we’d probably sell it to the people who refused to go into the Army camps.”

“Not many places have electricity these days. Are those solar panels?”

“Yes, they’re our primary source of power, but we have two backup generators too.”

“Do you folks have a lot of weapons?”

“Enough for any trouble that comes along.”

“That Ron was asking a lot of questions Tom. You better say something to Jim about
keeping an eye on them. I didn’t tumble at first, but when he started asking questions
about our weapons, I clammed up.”

“It might be just as well, honey. People don’t need to know our business. If there had
been any other way of getting a dome put in, I’d have done it. Dean and I are going to
pull the LUWA systems and some other things out of the two existing shelters and use
them for storage. We thought they might make good ammo bunkers. We’re going to
need a lot of furnishings for the new shelter when it’s completed, any ideas?”

“We have a fairly good relationship with those folks in Tracy, maybe we could get what
we need there. I don’t think you want to go into Fresno do you?”

“Not if I can avoid it. It’s probably better to give that Captain a while to cool off.”

162
“Rob told Shelly that the Captain was very high handed.”

“Just a man trying to do a job. Rob was right, though, it wasn’t do you need help or can
we do anything for you? It was more in the vein of you’re going to do what I say. Fortu-
nately Dave had those anti-tank missiles and we caught the Captain between a rock
and a hard place.”

“Maybe we should do something to improve security a little. Couldn’t we put in some

kind of warning system?”

“Possibly, I’d have to take to Jim about that. What did you have in mind, April?”

“Oh, I have no idea. Motion detectors probably wouldn’t work because all of the wild an-
imals around. Closed circuit TV would be nice, but that means a lot of extra equipment
and I have no idea where we could get it.”

“We can see about bringing in two more families after they finish the dome. We’ll have
two empty mobile homes. One thing we could do is centralize all of our operations in the
Dome after it’s finished. The size I have them building would have ample space for a
second floor where we could put offices. As it is, I think we’re pushing the limits of our
septic system by going to 20 homes.”

“We should be ok, Tom. You’ll be converting the two old shelters.”

“I guess it doesn’t make any different, April, we don’t have any more space to expand
the drain field.”

“Tom, Manny cleared a little land expanding the pasture, wouldn’t you have room for
one tank and the drain field? I remember that you said that we were at capacity.”

“I’ll take that up with our plumber Sam and he can work it out with Manny. We’re going
to have to call our Sam Samantha from now on, otherwise we won’t know if we talking
about our daughter or the plumber.”

“With all of the people living here now it does get confusing.”

It was surprising how quickly Ron and his crew erected the dome. Money had changed
hands twice more; they filled the fuel tanks on the Bradley’s and added non-perishable
food. They’d gotten by cheaply when you thought about it. Dave had done well in Haw-
thorne, bringing home 96 of the TOW missiles. He mentioned that that cinder cones
were putting out smoke, all three of them now.

Unknown to the residents of the acreage, the Air Force had made an over flight with a
reconnaissance aircraft on behalf of the Army. While that Captain didn’t really have time

163
to harbor a grudge, he had a long memory. However, he had more to be concerned
about than those residents, the USGS was back and they had issue a caution about the
caldera. It didn’t quite make it to the warning stage, but there had been several small
earthquake swarms and the Mono cinder cones were putting out a little ash.

Ignorant of the real situation over in Long Valley, everyone on the acreage was busy
farming, upgrading the facilities, or finishing off the dome. Samantha decided that 3 kids
were enough. Rob and Shelly named their new baby girl Michelle. Salina named their
son Roberto and she was just getting started having kids.

Sixty acres may seem like a lot of ground. But when you have 20 families, a pasture,
and 40 acres of crops, etc. it gets crowded. All of the batteries ended up in Tom’s old
shelter, freeing the 2 stalls in the barn. They estimated their available power at 235kw
from solar. The two generators were moved to the Dean’s shelter and one powered the
command center and the other the dome itself in backup mode.

Butchering time ended up being divided into several sessions because the walk-in cool-
er only had so much capacity. Jacob and his sons now had full time work processing
the meat. The new residents in homes 19 and 20 were:

Updated:

04. Rob and Shelly Henson, Greg, David, April and Michelle (6) Medical
05. Manny and Salina Cortez, Paulo, Maria and Roberto (5) Chief Agricultural
19. Jack and Susan Tyler, Andrew and Erica (4) Agricultural
20. Joseph and Gwen Roswell, Terry, Jean and Kathy (5) Electrical/Mechanical

The latter two men were veterans, Joe a highly decorated Gunnery Sergeant who hap-
pened to be a fan of Clint Eastwood. While Joe complained that the movie, Heartbreak
Ridge didn’t quite show it how it was in real life, it was a good primer. Joe considered
the Bradley’s 3rd best, preferring the LAV-25s or the Stryker CFV, another variant of the
Stryker. Unlike an Abrams tank or a Bradley fighting vehicle, the Stryker IFV was a me-
dium-weight, eight-wheel vehicle that could carry 11 soldiers and weapons at speeds of
more than 60 miles an hour. With its giant rubber tires instead of noisy tracks, it was fast
and quiet and drew on the brigade’s reconnaissance drones, eavesdropping equipment
and the Army’s most advanced communications gear to outflank an enemy rather than
out slug it. The Stryker CFV was outfitted with 4 Hellfire missiles, but neither the vehi-
cles nor the missiles were available.

Tom had gotten April those baking pans she wanted, but could only find the brand that
baked 4 1½ pound loaves instead of 3. April and Avis were baking the whole wheat
bread and Salina was making tortillas for everyone. With her children to care for, Salina
didn’t have time to clean homes any longer. It had been difficult, but they eventually
managed to find enough of the high efficiency wood burning stoves to upgrade all of the

164
mobile homes. The only fuel they could get was more propane; they were going to have
to make do with their supply of diesel and gasoline.

The following spring, the military was planning on revisiting the acreage and the Cap-
tain, now a Major, wanted to bring the residents into the fold. The Air Force over flight
occurred while the dome was being constructed and showed 6 Bradley’s. Jack Tyler
was the former Army Sergeant First Class and had been the Sergeant at the drawbridge
when the confrontation had occurred a year before. He’d gathered his wife and kids
from Ft. Irwin and when his enlistment ran out, simply left the Army and applied for
membership at the acreage. They were glad to have him; he’d known the Major for a
long time.

“What’s the man like, Jack?’’

“He’s about 2 pay grades ahead of his skill level, Jim. They have pictures of this place
now. Got the Air Force to do an over flight. Where are the other two Bradley’s?”

“They went to the guys who constructed the dome, part of the payment. We picked up
the 4 CFVs at Camp Roberts and gave them our two IFVs.”

“I brought my personal weapons, a M1A and a M1911. I didn’t have anything for my
family; weapons have become hard to come by over the last 4 years.”

“See Dave, and he’ll arrange whatever you need. What do you want to do, work for me
in Security or help Manny farm?”

“Can’t I do both, Jim? I could work for Manny most of the time, but if there’s trouble, I’m
still a soldier.”

“Most of the people here are part of Security, Jack. We’ve trained and armed everyone
age 14 and up. We outfitted the shelter with furniture we got from the Defense Logistics
Facility in Tracy. The top floor is our Command and Control Center. We’ve tried to antic-
ipate our needs so it had a full suite of military communication gear. If the Army gets de-
termined, there is no way we can hold them off.”

“All I can tell you is that they’re planning on coming back in force. You’re aware of
what’s happening in Long Valley?”

“Dave said that all three cinder cones we putting out smoke last summer.”

“The Resurgent dome has risen considerably since then. The USGS has been in and
they didn’t issue a volcano alert, but they did warn of increased activity.”

“Do you think we should send out scouts to check it out?”

165
“That’s up to you. If it were up to me, I’d do it.”

“Shelly, would you mind terribly if we didn’t have any more children? I only figured on
two or three.”

“Rob that’s fine with me, I’m exhausted. We didn’t have as many diapers as we needed
and the triplets ran me ragged doing laundry. Sam told me Garry and she were going to
stop at three. How are your medical supplies holding out?”

“That depends on what you’re talking about. The things with a longer shelf life are still
available. Shelly, I’m a Paramedic, not a doctor. We’ll be ok unless we get people who
are badly hurt. It’s straining my training just to care for bullet wounds. We don’t have a
lot of diagnostic equipment either, so most of the time all I can do is make an educated
guess. I think a doctor might have been able to save that one girl from Tracy if we could
have gotten her to one in time. I hate losing patients.”

“Get used to it Rob. You’re a Paramedic; you do what you can and bury the rest. Do
your best not let it eat you up; I was afraid we were going to have an epidemic after the
war.”

“We’re isolated here, that helped. Commercial aviation completely shut down and that
helped more. Our water supply is good so we didn’t have problems with bad water. I
managed to immunize everyone as if they were going to a foreign country. However, I
can’t vaccinate anyone else unless I can get more vaccines. As a precaution I used the
tetanus vaccine I had and immunized everyone just before it expired. It only had a shelf
life of 36 months.”

“How long do the vaccines last?”

“It varies, from 12 months to 3 years on most. Some have even shorter shelf lives.”

“What did it look like? Were the 3 cinder cones putting out ash?”

“If it were only that, I wouldn’t be worried, Jim. We need to call a meeting.”

166
 A Family Alone – Chapter 33 – The Best Laid Plans

The no name Major discounted the USGS warning; the caldera had rumbled many
times before and hadn’t had a significant eruption. He figured that the worst that could
happen was like 200 and some years before when the cinder cones had been created.
At least he was rid of that pain in the butt, Sergeant First Class Jack Tyler. Rather than
sticking around to finish out his 20 years, Tyler had bailed at 16. That man wouldn’t be
getting a pension. He had been up for Master Sergeant, but the Captain, now a Major,
had blocked the promotions with bad Fitness Reports.

His plan was quite simple, bring in some arty and destroy the bridge and the gully. He
had some 105mm howitzers available for the job, no sense in bringing in Paladins to
destroy one small gully. He was totally unaware of the conversation that April and Tom
had about expanding their defense perimeter, just as they were unaware of his specific
plans.

Tom had talked to Jim Martin about April’s suggestion of expanding their security. He
also shared her opinions about the motion sensors and closed circuit TVs. Jim told Tom
that even if they could find CCTVs in Fresno, the odds favored most of them not work-
ing. He also agreed with April’s assessment of the problems associated with motion de-
tectors. His suggestion was to station a couple of scouts up at the road with radios and
horses. In the event that someone did show up to cause trouble, the scouts could give a
radio warning while they rode the 2 miles to the bridge.

“Do you guys remember the First Gulf War?” the Gunny asked.

“I was there,” Tom had replied.

“The only reason I bring it up was that Saddam had a lot better tank trap than the little
gully we have and it didn’t stop our forces.”

“Gunny, we weren’t trying to stop the Army or Marines. The gully was just to slow down
the mutant zombie bikers, you know the bad guys.”

“As long as you know, fine. Tyler tells me that that Army Major really is carrying a
grudge.”

“Is everyone here? Good. Will your scouts please give their report, Jim?”

“I’ll go first Dad,” Jim Jr. replied.

“All three of the cinder cones are spewing a lot of smoke and ash. Mammoth Mountain
is also leaking lava. I’m not sure what that all means, folks. Usually a volcano has the
thick lava that doesn’t go explosive only the really thin lava does. The magma pool un-

167
der the cinder cones gives every impression of being thin lava. I had a chance to talk
with one of those geologists from the USGS. He said that he’d recommended that the
USGS issue a yellow level on the Mono cinder cones.”

“I’ll take it from here, Jim,” Gene continued. “I got to discussing the eruption 760,000
years ago with him. It released 600km³ of material from vents just inside the margin of
the caldera. About half of the material was ejected in a series of pyroclastic flows of a
very hot (1,500 degree Fahrenheit or ~815 degree Celsius) mixture of noxious gas,
pumice and ash that covered the surrounding area hundreds of feet deep. One lobe of
this material moved south into Owens Valley, past where Big Pine now lies. Another
lobe moved west over the crest of the Sierra Nevada and into the drainage of the San
Joaquin River. The rest of the pyroclastic material along with 300 km³ of other matter
was blown as far as 25 miles into the air where winds distributed it as far away as east-
ern Nebraska and Kansas. However, much of the material ejected straight into the air
fell back to earth to fill the 2 to 3 km deep caldera two-thirds to its rim.”

“What about the Resurgent Dome?”

“That’s filled or filling with the thick, non-explosive lava.”

“What’s the bottom line? Is it going to blow or not?”

“Yes, it’s going to blow or not. He said the probability was about 60%.”

“I suppose we’d better assume that it will. Get the protective barriers up around the cor-
ral. Call the scouts and have them pull back to the drawbridge. Someone cycle the gen-
erators and make certain that they’ll fire up if we need them. We’d better start moving
things into the dome. Start with the freezers first, then the contents of the refrigerators
and finally the canned goods.”

“Aren’t you over reacting Dean?”

“The odds have historically run about 1 chance in 250,000. I don’t think so, no.”

“The scouts are pulling back, but they report the Army was pulling in and setting up artil-
lery.”

“Damn. What next?”

“Hey, look at the bright side, Tom. If the caldera blows maybe the Army will get caught
in the ash.”

“Tell the guards to pull back from the drawbridge as soon as the scouts clear it.”

168
“Standby to fire.”

“Are you sure you want to do this Major? They’re just some civilians.”

“FIRE.”

Three barrages totally destroyed the gully and both bridges. They also set off the
homemade dynamite mines. The Major saddled his troops up and proceeded towards
the acreage. He was just beginning when the Mono craters exploded. A major earth-
quake accompanied the explosion, several in fact.

The San Joaquin River is one of the largest rivers in the state of California. It originates
high on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, near Mammoth Mountain. The San
Joaquin River drains most of the area from the southern border of Yosemite, south to
Kings Canyon National Park, making it the second largest river drainage in the state. It
emerges from the foothills of the Sierras at what was once the town of Millerton, now
the location of Friant Dam, which forms Millerton Lake. The river flows west to the
trough of the Central Valley, where it is joined by the Sierra’s other great rivers and then
flows north to the Delta and then San Francisco Bay.

“Damn it. Sergeant assemble the troops and pull back to Fresno.”

“Major that’s twice. I wouldn’t try and take these people on again; they seem to have
someone watching out for them.”

“Sergeant, if I want you to have an opinion, I’ll tell what it is.”

“What happened to the Major?”

“I’m damned if I know, Lieutenant. I think a rock fell out of the sky and hit him in the
head. You’d better get with the Captain, Sir, and get these troops back to Fresno before
we get a heavy ash fall from the eruption.”

(It’s probably against the UCMJ for a Sergeant to bop a Major with a rock. But, it is al-
ways open season on assholes.)

“Manny, are the livestock going to be ok?”

“I’ve done all that I can, Tom, they’re wrapped in canvas in the corral or in crammed into
the barns.”

169
“What about the poultry, are they ok?”

“We rounded up as many as we could in the time we had. We may lose a few birds but
that will depend on how bad this eruption is. The cattle, horses, and hogs are secure.
The turkeys are so nervous, I can’t promise you anything.

“How did you know?”

“How did I know what, Dean?”

“How did you know that the caldera was going to blow?”

“Sorry, Dean, I don’t have a crystal ball, I didn’t know. It just seemed prudent to have
shelter for all of the families. We’re beginning to get ash so I’d suggest that we button
the dome up.”

“We still have a couple of freezers to move. I’ll tell them to hurry. Do we have time to get
the rest of the canned goods?”

“They should be ok where they are. We’ll lose whatever is in the refrigerators when the
power goes out, but I don’t think it will amount to much. We’ll have to try and keep the
ash off the solar panels as much as possible. If we can’t, we’ll be ok with the backup
generators, I hope.”

The dome was large, 120 diameter, a radius of 60’. The main level had ~ 11,304 square
feet. The upper levels only added to their storage space and they had 5 floors with the
C³I in the cupola at the top. The original idea had been to plan about 100 ft² per person.
At the moment it worked out to more like 134 ft² per person on the main floor, but their
population was growing. April and the others got coffee on, bread rising in pans and de-
cided to make a beef stew for supper rather than try to plan a complex meal.

Do the math:

½(4∕3 * 3.14 * (60 * 60 *60) = ½(4∕3 * 3.14 * 216000) = ½(4∕3 * 678,240) = ½(904,320) =
452,160 ft³

It might have been overkill, but Tom wasn’t so certain he could get the contractor back
from Idaho and they had built a similar sized dome in Louisiana. He also figured that if
the eruption destroyed their homes, there was enough space in the dome to erect
apartments for all of the residents. Besides, that’s how much material they had available
to use. Rather than try and construct an elevator, they had used 2 Warn 12K winches to
raise and lower a 6’ square by 7’ high box. It wasn’t elegant, but it worked.

170
“Tom the USGS just issued a Red level volcano warning.”

“About one day late and several billion dollars short. Do they have any idea about the
size of the eruption?”

“They’re speculating that it’s about half the size of the eruption that happened 760,000
years ago, but it will depend on how long the eruption lasts. At the moment, they’re say-
ing ~ 300 km³.”

“What is the wind direction?”

“It’s normal, out of the west. Maybe we won’t get so much ash.”

“Can someone fill me in on what happened to the bridge and gully?”

“Destroyed, 3 artillery barrages. The Army pulled out.”

“Damn it to hell. Oh well, anyone hurt?”

“No one, Dad.”

“Thank God for that. After this is over, we’re going to have to do something about the
Army.”

“Tom, I’ve been thinking about our using scouts with horses. It was staring me right in
the face and never occurred to me. The dome is 60’ high. We can mount a zoom cam-
era on it and probably see all the way to the highway. We’d only need one camera and
if nothing else could use a TV as a monitor. Obviously that gully won’t stop the military,
not with them having artillery. I’ve been talking with Jack and Gunny and they both feel
that our only choice is to locate some anti-tank mines.”

“Tom, I know where we can get the M-19 ATMs,” Gunny offered. “They’re plastic so
they are hard to detect. The downside is that if they know the mines are there, they can
take them out with the mine removing systems that create an overpressure.”

“I don’t know about those, how much pressure does it take to set one off?”

“350 pounds.”

“That would mean that we could set one off with a horse wouldn’t it?”

171
 A Family Alone – Chapter 34 – Plan B

“Quite possible. However, I’d suggest that we not mine the road we use. And by that I
mean that we need to build a new road and mine the existing one. As long as everyone
here knows where the real road is, we should be safe.”

“How long do you think we’re going to need to stay in the shelter this time? Last time
turned into forever.”

“As soon as the ash settles we should be able to go out. If we don’t get a lot of ash,
maybe the weather won’t be bad as long.”

“It’s going to affect a couple growing seasons. I’d guess we won’t be selling produce
anytime soon.”

“Gunny, will it be any problem getting the anti-tank mines?”

“It shouldn’t, once we can get out of here.”

“Jim can you come up with a camera?”

“Can do. I’ll get one with long range capabilities and night vision.”

“Hey, I just checked, we’re not getting much ash.”

“It might be a good time to go shopping, Tom.”

“Manny, you’ll have to grade some dirt into the gully so they can get across. How are
you guys going to handle the shopping trip?”

“I’ll take a Bradley and the normal compliment to find the cameras and equipment.”

“What do you think Jack,” Gunny asked, “One Bradley and one semi?”

“How many of the mines are available?”

“At least 2 semi loads.”

“Let’s get them all before someone else does.”

There were 2-semi loads of mines and more. Gunny was about ½ right; there was 1
semi load of ATMs and more than 1 semi load of APMs. They came back, unloaded and
returned to get the remainder of the mines. They were the old mines that had long been
outlawed by Presidential directive, M-14 and M-16APMs and M19ATMs. You know the

172
first two types: the M-14 concussive and the M-16 Bouncing Betty. The latter was the
square plastic M-19 ATM.

Even though they had the mines, they didn’t initially deploy them. None of the veterans
want to be the person responsible for American deaths. The underlying theory of mines
had been to stop tanks. Antipersonnel mines came along and were planted in anti-tank
minefields to prevent combat engineers from disarming the anti-tank mines. With the
mines in their possession, they had one immediate advantage; another party couldn’t
use the mines against them.

“It would help if we had more information about that Major’s plans. I wish we had some
Special Forces trained people of some kind.”

“We could always slip into Fresno and see what we could find out.”

“Perhaps someone should do that, Jim. I need to talk to Manny and see what the crop
situation is going to be for the following year.”

“We didn’t get so much ash that I can’t spread it with the drag and then plow it in, Tom.
We had a problem with water the last time, but I think we can irrigate. It’s going to de-
pend on how much sunshine we get. According to the radio most of the ash went to the
east. We should go ahead and plant and hope for the best.”

“Apparently the new caldera is far smaller than the previous one. The USGS was pro-
jecting 300km³ of ash but it’s been revised downward to 200km³. It only made it as far
east as Colorado.”

“Livestock ok?”

“Came through with flying colors.”

“Great, Manny, please keep Dean informed and let one of us know if you need any-
thing.”

“We don’t have to worry about that Major, he’s dead.”

“What happened to him?”

“The official word was he was stuck by a rock from the eruption.”

“Official?”

173
“Yeah, well, the scuttlebutt is that he was fragged.”

“Good, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer SOB.”

“Do we want to move the trailers further back so they’re across the road? We didn’t
have any destroyed but a long round slightly damaged one.”

“There isn’t any room across the road. What’s the plan, clear an area and use the wood
for firewood?”

“Tom we thought we talk to you first.”

“Talk to Dean, he’s as much in charge as I am. It’s time for me to go take a nap.”

“What’s wrong Tom, you look flustered.”

“April do I have to make all of the major decision around here? I told everyone to talk to
Dean.”

“What’s our security situation?”

“Jim is getting the camera in and we’ll be able to see to the highway. Its wireless and
will traverse in a full circle. He and his staff are setting up their operation in the cupola of
the dome. That Major who gave us all of that static last year is dead. Gunny said that
the scuttlebutt was that he was fragged. Apparently someone hit him over the head with
a rock.”

“Go take a nap and I’ll have a pan of cinnamon rolls done when you wake up.”

“It there anything else I need to worry about while I’m trying to sleep?”

“Only good news, but it will keep.”

Tom slept until the following morning. April was concerned and sought advice from Rob.

“Has he ever done this before?”

“Once, a while back, Rob. It was before we built the dome.”

“When he’s up and around, let me know and I’ll check him over.”

“Should I be concerned?”

“Has he had any complaints?”

174
“Not that I know of. He’s been short with people and grouchy sometimes.”

“I’ll check him over Mom, but I think I’ll put him on a vitamin supplement.”

When Rob got home he transferred his supply of Prozac to an empty bottle and added a
label that said, “Vit. Sup.” He wasn’t a doctor, just a Paramedic, but it seemed to him
that Tom was displaying possible signs of depression. They were all unhappy about the
situation they found themselves in, but so far only Avis had required treatment. The
Zoloft had gotten her through her episode and it hadn’t returned.

“I was tired, how long did I sleep?”

“17 hours. Are you feeling any better?”

“Some thanks. I supposed that I missed the cinnamon rolls, huh?”

“They’re in the oven. Later, Rob wants you to stop by for something, he didn’t say. May-
be to check you over and make sure you’re ok.”

It was a rudimentary physical: weight, blood pressure, pulse, temperature, listening to

Tom’s heart and lungs. Rob inquired whether Tom had any complaints and other than
occasional fatigue, Tom claimed not. Rob gave his Dad the Vit. Sup. and told him it
could take a few weeks before he got any real results. Tom was almost like a ship with-
out a rudder, checking on this and that, trying to see that all of their bases were cov-
ered.

“Have you been riding lately Tom?” Dean asked.

“It’s been a while.”

“Get your Winchester and Vaquero and we’ll saddle up. We really ought to survey the
condition of the acreage.”

“Ok, Dean, I’ll do it. Give me a few minutes and I’ll meet you in the barn.”

“April, have you seen my western hat? Dean and I are going for a ride and check out
the acreage.”

“It’s in the hall closet; I’ll get it while you change. What did Rob say?”

“He couldn’t find anything wrong, apparently, so he put me on a vitamin supplement. He

told me that it could take from 3 weeks to 6 months for it to work.”

“Well good, it can’t hurt. Here’s your hat.”

175
“Sorry if I’ve been grumpy lately.”

“It’s a sign of the times. There have been a lot of grumpy people lately. Don’t worry
about it.”

“Where do you want to start?”

“Across the road. I want to see how they’re doing on clearing a space for the trailers.
After, we’ll ride up to the gully and see what’s left of our bridge.”

“How’s it going Manny?”

“Good, Dean, we’re almost done. We’re pulling the trailers straight in and plan to park
the tractors (they now had 3) behind the trailers. We have a large pile of wood to cut up
for firewood. How are you Tom? Checking the place out?”

“I’m fine, Manny. Maybe a little run down. What’s the situation on the ash?”

“We spread it and turned the soil. I’ve got some people disking so we can try in get a
crop in.”

“Manny, Tom and I are going to ride up to the gully.”

“See you later.”

“…so we put in some 3’ culvert and Manny graded over the gully. We couldn’t get any
asphalt, so the road is just crushed rock for this short stretch. There isn’t anything left of
either bridge. It wouldn’t have stopped anyone anyway, Tom, not really.”

“Heard any more from the Army?”

“They’re up to their butts in reptiles. The word is that they’re going to pull out of Fresno
and go east to help folks in the aftermath of the eruption.”

“Anything new on that?”

“We won’t be able to go to Hawthorne for any more supplies. Some people from USGS
were around measuring the depth of the ash. We got about a foot on average.”

176
 A Family Alone – Chapter 35 – Plan B Cont.

When they arrived at the road, the hulks of the vehicles were nowhere to be seen. The
16 crosses that Manny had erected were also gone, as was the gate.

“Where’s the gate Dean?”

“We hauled it and the cars off the property. We had a discussion and while those things
might work to dissuade some bad guys, they also advertised our presence. Jim sug-
gested that before those cars were piled up at the road, this looked just like an unused
country lane. Said he always had trouble finding the road.”

“Can’t see the dome from here, can you?”

“No, you can’t, Tom. Most passerby’s would never give this old road a second look. Jim
put in that camera that can actually see all of the way to this location. It has a 400X
zoom.”

“How is Avis doing these days? The four of us ought to get together and do something.
Get the kids and grandkids together for a family thing.”

“What, a picnic?”

“Or something. I’ll suggest it to April.”

“Let’s ride back and see how much timber they’ve cleared and how much land we have
under cultivation, Tom.”

“Lead the way. It’s downright peaceful, Dean. No mushroom clouds, no ash falling and
no Army at the gate. Oops, I spoke too soon. Someone is pulling in a singlewide, looks
like a soldier. Were we expecting anyone?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Help you Master Sergeant?”

“Looking for a place for me and my family. Master Sergeant Lincoln Washington, late of
the United States Army.”

“Retired?”

“Nope, deserted. Had my 30 in but they wouldn’t let me go. Had a bit of a problem with
a Major when we were out here a short time back shooting artillery at you folks. They
pulled out of Fresno and headed east. I got my family, a mobile home and headed
here.”

177
“The recently promoted Major who had it in for us?”

“The one and the same.”

“We heard he had gotten killed. Scuttlebutt says fragged.”

“That Major got hit in the head by a rock that came flying out of the air. Darnest thing
you ever saw, fellas. There was only just the one rock. What do you think of the likeli-
hood of something like that happening?”

“It will take us a while to get your trailer setup, Sergeant.”

“I can pay my way, fellas, I brought a few things.”

“Weapons?”

“Plus ammo and other things, yes.”

“We’ll get you with Dave, he’s our armorer. Sarge, we’re doing an inspection of the
place. I’ll radio to the compound and tell them to expect you. Ask for a man named Jim
Martin or Dave Williams, they’re in charge of Security and the armory.”

“What’s the penalty for harboring a fugitive, Dean?”

“Did you notice the insignia on his uniform? I think that Mr. Washington is going to be a
welcome addition. Combat engineer.”

“I didn’t notice. Why don’t we conclude the tour tomorrow? I think maybe I’d like to get to
know Mr. Washington a little better.”

“Jim, this is Dean, come back.”

“What’s up Dean?”

“There is an Army Master Sergeant and his family headed your way. See if you can get
his trailer parked on the east end of the row of homes and have Dave get with him. The
man says he has some weapons and ammo. The name is Lincoln Washington.”

“10-4.”

Add: 21. Lincoln and Selma Washington, Jefferson and Abraham (4) Demolitions/Baker

178
“April, we added another family, the Washington’s.”

“I’ll have to go say hi.”

“Jim put their trailer at the east end.”

“What’s his specialty?”

“Pain in the butt removal. He’s a combat engineer. He also might be a baseball player, a
pitcher.”

“You seem to be feeling better, have a nice ride?”

“Dean and I only got about ½ ways through our tour when the Sergeant showed up. But,
now that you mention it, I do feel a little better, thanks.”

“Hi, I’m April Henson. We own the acreage. Welcome.”

“My name is Selma, April. The older boy is Jefferson and the younger, Abraham. My
man is with your security people.”

“How are you fixed for food, Selma?”

“We have a lot of MRE’s.”

“Jacob is butchering pork today. I’ll mention to him that you need some meat. Do you
have a freezer?”

“It’s empty.”

“We can fix that. If you and the boys want to come with me, we can get you some food
from central stores and I can introduce you to some of the people living here.”

“Jacob, meet Selma Washington. These are her sons, Jefferson and Abraham. Selma
has an empty freezer, can you help out?”

“If you young fellas want to empty out that freezer over there, it has a side of beef, a hog
and chickens. You can use my pickup to haul the meat. Mrs. Washington, have they
hooked up your electricity yet?”

“No, but they’re working on it.”

“One of you youngsters get an extension cord from out of my toolbox on my pickup to
connect the freezer until they get your electricity running.”

179
“What did you do, Selma, homemaker?”

“Baker, April. I worked for grocery stores for several years.”

“Really? We could use a baker. Avis and I have been baking everyone’s bread for, well
since forever. We can stop by the dome and I’ll show you the kitchen setup.”

“What’s that dome all about?”

“It’s a shelter, Selma. It is big enough to house everyone here for an extended period.
There are some large commercial ovens in the kitchen and a cafeteria. The Security of-
fices are on the 4th floor. That is probably where your husband is. The medical clinic is
on the 4th floor. My son Rob is our medic. We don’t have a doctor or dentist, but he is a
Paramedic. Oh, hi, Avis. Avis, this is Selma Washington, they just moved in.”

“Nice to meet you Selma.”

“The two men you saw when you came on the property were my husband Tom and
Avis’s husband Dean, Selma. Tom and I live in the big old house and Avis and Dean in
the nice doublewide sitting next door.”

“Do the two of you bake every day?”

“Sure do,” Avis replied.

“I’d be glad to help out.”

“Great,” Avis smiled.

“These are our central stores, Selma. Each trailer is labeled with its contents. We don’t
really have any kind of allocation system unless food gets in short supply. When that
happens, someone will be here to ration the food. That’s just a brief overview of what
we have here.”

“Thank you for showing me around, April. I’ll just get a few things for supper and Linc
and I can come by another time and do our shopping.”

“Know anything about landmines, Lincoln?”

“Deployment or removal? Call me Linc, please.”

180
“Deployment.”

“I’ve put in a few minefields in my day.”

“We have M-14s, M-16s and M-19s stored. We haven’t done anything with them be-
cause no one here had any experience, except Gunny.”

“You have some M-18s, now. They were in my trailer.”

“That’s right, Tom. Maybe Sergeant Washington can do something to secure the dome
better.”

“Linc, the acreage started out as a 40-acre plot. We’ve cut additional timber and have a
total of 60-acres cleared. Manny added that storage area across the road for our trailers
that we use for central stores. What I’d like to do is secure the area up at the road and
allow us to expand from here in an easterly direction.”

“How many mines do you have?”

“2½ semi loads, 60% of them are APMs.”

“Do you have a good map of the area?”

“I’m not sure. I have the aerial photo the Air Force took, thanks to Jack. I may have a
CD with topo maps, but I’d have to check.”

“I can look into it tomorrow, fellas and let you know what I think.”

“We have the electricity and plumbing connected to that new trailer,” Sam announced.
“It is leveled and ready to occupy.”

“Damn, that was quick.”

“I sent my wife over to meet your wife, Linc. She probably gave her a bit of a tour.”

“It has been a long day for me, fellas. If it is ok with you, I’ll go home, and have supper.”

“0800 in the morning, Linc. I’m going to add you to my Security staff,” Jim announced.

“See you tomorrow.”

“What’s for supper, Selma?”

“Pork chops, mashed and gravy. These folks have quite the setup. After supper, we can
go to central stores and fill our cupboards.”

181
 A Family Alone – Chapter 36 – Planning Ahead

“I’m generally opposed to using landmines, Lincoln,” Tom explained. “I found the CD
with the topo maps and I can’t see that we have much other choice.”

“Normal procedure would be to intersperse the APMs and the ATMs. The use of anti-
personnel landmines (APL) can be traced to World War II when they were developed for
use in antitank (AT) minefields to discourage foot soldiers from disabling AT mines. Un-
fortunately, even when used according to the generally accepted doctrine of marking
and recording, these non-self-destructing APMs continued to pose hazards long after
the end of the conflict. Although we have since adopted self-destructing and self-
deactivating landmines, the increased cost has limited their use to only NATO allies and
a few other countries. Because the bulk of the mines still in use around the world are
neither self-deactivating nor self-destructing, the humanitarian consequence of deploy-
ing these mines has led to an effort to achieve a global ban on APM.

“In response to this effort, Presidential Decision Directive (PDD) 48 announced a new
APM policy. The Directive allowed the US to keep its mixed antitank (AT), self-
destructing mine systems and directed the Department of Defense to develop and field
alternatives to pure APM systems throughout the armed forces. The APM Alternatives
program began as a two-track approach. A second directive, PDD 64, provided addi-
tional direction for mixed systems and added a third track to the program.”

“Because all you have are the older, non-self-destructing mines, I’m going to propose a
different approach. We can put in the ATMs first and add the APMs in a second mine-
field. If the military does happen to come back with armor, the first field will stop it cold
and they’d have to be fools to continue. On the other hand, if you get some amateurs,
they’ll probably continue and walk right into the APMs.”

“How long to get it all in place, Linc?”

“Depends on how many we deploy, maybe a couple of weeks, possibly longer.”

“Dean, are you comfortable with this?”

“Suits me.”

“Jim?”

“It’s a go as far as I’m concerned.”

“What about the Claymores you brought?”

“Manny told me that he dug a fighting trench around the original 40-acres. We can de-
ploy the Claymores there.”

182
“Let’s do it. Dean are you ready to complete our ride?”

“Sure.”

“I wonder how Linc is going to put in the mines in asphalt?”

“Good question, maybe he won’t.”

“Oh?”

“He might remove the asphalt and leave us with a gravel road. That would be one solu-
tion. In fact, that would be the only solution that I can see. Meanwhile where are we go-
ing to put the new road that we’ve talked about?”

“This ridgeline on the south of the acreage extends all of the way back to the road. We
could remove some trees and probably get trucks through there.”

“You realize that that will mean clearing about 15-20 acres of ground, don’t you?”

“That will give us a more firewood, maybe as much as 300 cords.”

“I didn’t think about that. But, if Linc clears off the asphalt, we’re going to have 2 crews
working fulltime for several months.”

“I can’t see any problem with that Dean. With the number of people we have now, there
isn’t enough work to keep everyone busy. With that extra septic system we added, our
limit is now about 24 families. In order to add more families, we’ll need to clear more
pasture, too. I noticed that one of our tankers is empty, do you have any idea where we
can get a refill or a replacement?”

“Not a clue, Tom. There weren’t any more on I-5. The two propane delivery trucks are
empty too. When we go to Tracy to refill them, why don’t we find out if they know where
we can get a load of diesel?”

“We are getting 100% biodiesel from Monterey, Tom. It comes from an outfit named Pa-
cific Biofuel.”

“Do you think we could get a full load, 16,000-gallons?”

“I can’t tell you that, but you could try. What are you people doing with your used cook-
ing oil?”

“We’ve saved it. We have it in 55-gallon drums because we don’t know how to produce
biodiesel.”

183
“That’s the thing, they do. Most of their product used to be from recycled vegetable oils.
They have two operations now, recycling and biodiesel produced from soybean oil. In
the past, we have been able to trade them our used vegetable oils for biodiesel and a
little to cover their processing costs. It isn’t a straight trade because one gallon of used
oil doesn’t produce one gallon of biodiesel. Their soybean-based biodiesel is running
about $5 a gallon these days. You can blend it with diesel, you know. In the manufactur-
ing process, 100 pounds of oils or fats are reacted with 10 pounds of a short chain alco-
hol (usually methanol) in the presence of a catalyst (usually sodium or potassium hy-
droxide) to form 100 pounds of biodiesel and 10 pounds of glycerin. How many drums
of used cooking oil do you have now?”

“Counting the used lard? A lot. We’ll have to count them. We’re getting about 75 pounds
of lard from every hog and we keep running out of barrels.”

“They take any kind of animal or vegetable fats.”

“How steep is their processing fee?”

“A buck and a half a gallon, based on a 95% yield.”

“Thanks.”

“Hell, we might just as well Dean. Even if they’re only giving 95-gallons back for every
100-gallons we provide them, we’ll be ahead. There must be a hundred barrels of used
fats.”

They had 150 55-gallon drums of used cooking oil. They got back 7,838 gallons of B100
diesel for $11,757. They emptied the barrels and took them home to refill. It might take
a while, but they had solved their energy crunch for only $1.50 per gallon. Theoretically
100 gallons of oil would produce 100 gallons of biodiesel. There was probably some wa-
ter condensate in the oil that the processing plant allowed for. Regardless, the used oil
wasn’t doing them any good and now they had fuel.

Tom and Dean discussed the possibility of adding more families and agreed that they
would make one more addition to the septic system and go to more families.

“We were alone for so long on the acreage, we were a family alone. I sometimes think
of everyone as our extended family and I conclude that even though we’ll end up with
nearly 100 people, we will remain in many respects just one big family.”

“I understand, Tom. When our kids got married, it was natural for us to move here being
related by marriage and all. How many times now have I heard you say that just a few
more and we’ll stop?”

184
“Damned if I know, I wasn’t counting. It also occurs to me that with us taking over the
property all the way to the road that it wouldn’t really be wrong to call our growing com-
munity Hildreth because Hildreth is on all of the maps.”

“I know we can squeeze in 3 more trailers, Tom. Should we find some and get them
setup? It would allow us to recruit people.”

“Not 3 surely. We’d want to leave a spot open in case someone brought his or her own
mobile home. But we could get 3 and install 2 of them. We could park the extra trailer by
the central stores trailers. Just one thing, Dean, make sure we only get new. I can’t see
us spending a lot of time rehabilitating trailers.”

“Fine with me. I guess we have our work cut out for us with the security system, the
road, expanding the septic system, locating and installing mobile homes.”

“There is one other thing, Dean. We just have the two generators. We should do some-
thing about that. If we add more trailers, we’ll be pushing the envelope on our solar
panels. On days when the sun doesn’t shine we could exhaust the batteries and there is
no way we could continue to supply the power.”

“What’s the answer, more batteries?”

“I thought about that, but we couldn’t charge more batteries, assuming we could find
them. Panels and thin film will be difficult to find. I also thought about a bigger genera-
tor, but we don’t have unlimited fuel. The nearest geothermal is 50 miles away, if we
wanted to try and tap Long Valley. The only thing left is a wind turbine. They put a big
one in Palmdale nearly 20 years ago for their Water District. It seems like it had a ca-
pacity of nearly 1Mw. It would be too big to dismantle and move, but I think wind is our
only solution.”

“I saw that turbine in Palmdale. You can see the tower from a long ways off and I agree
we couldn’t dismantle it. What we need to do is find a project under construction. This is
the state to do that, Tom. Someone is always expanding their wind generation capaci-
ty.”

“We should probably talk to Gunny about this Dean; he’s our electrical/mechanical spe-
cialist.”

“…so that was our thinking, Gunny. Any ideas?”

“It won’t be easy erecting a tower, but if you can get a crane we could do it. These days
most of the commercial systems run anywhere from 600kw to 1.5Mw. A person wants to
put in 3 times as much capacity as their power needs because you have to allow for
when the wind isn’t blowing hard enough. We get a steady updraft here so wind would
work. You could try and get a standby generator for when the wind isn’t blowing at all.”

185
“Dean and I discussed that, Gunny. Our fuel supply is limited.”

“You wouldn’t need it very often, Tom. Rather than try and synchronize several small
generators, one large generator would be better.”

“Ok, let’s do it.”

Gunny smiled and rubbed his hands together. “Leave it to me fellas, I’ll figure it out and
get something put in. I’d rather do that than play with landmines anyway.”

It seemed like they always had a project going, whether it was upgrading their security,
improving their power capacity, clearing more land or just trying to produce enough food
for the folks on the acreage. Gunny found a diesel generator rated at 400kw and a wind
turbine rated at 750kw. After they had the tower installed, they kept the crane. Jim ex-
pressed concern that the tower could be seen and might attract trouble. Three more
mobile homes were brought in and 2 set up. The third was stored in the central stores
area across the road.

“If we could just erect a fence around this property, we’d be as snug as a bug in a rug,
April.”

“20’ high and 20’ thick Tom? That’s not the answer; I’d feel like a prisoner. People quit
building castles a long time ago.”

“I was just thinking of our grandchildren, honey. Jim’s assessment of our ability to repel
an attack has raised a new issue. We can only field about 60 people to repel the hoard.”

“It used to be so simple. All we had to worry about was winter snowstorms and waiting
for the County to grade the road. There were only the 4 of us and you could protect us. I
miss the good old days.”

“Twenty years ago? They were good times, weren’t they? You were selling Watkins
products and I was packing and delivering them to UPS. Before was always better, but
we were younger then too. Samantha and Rob are the age we were back then. Unfor-
tunately, time doesn’t stand still.”

“So, what are you going to do?”

186
 A Family Alone – Chapter 37 – Castles

“I’m not sure. Maybe build a monument to man’s stupidity.”

“What’s that mean?”

“George S. Patton, the WW II General, always said that fixed fortifications were monu-
ments to man’s stupidity. Build a castle, I guess.”

“Circular? Are you out of your mind?”

“I did the math and if we erected a circular wall with a radius of 1,053’ we could enclose
80 acres.”

“Do this math, Tom, it would have an inner circumference of 2 * 1,053 * 3.14 or 6,613
feet. If you built 2 3’ thick walls with say 14’ earth in between, we’re talking about 6,613’
+ 6,738’ or 13,351’ of wall. If they were 20’ high and 3’ thick, the outer wall would re-
quire 404,280 ft³ of rock and the inner wall would require 396,780 ft³ of rock. 801,060 ft³
of rock is 29,669 yds³. The earth inside of the walls would be several times that amount
probably 2 million ft³ or over 75 thousand yds³.”

“I guess that I’d better get started, it sounds like it might take a while. We’ll call the place
Patton’s Castle.”

“Dean, you need to have a talk with Tom, he’s gone off the deep end. He’s talking about
erecting a circular castle containing 80 acres of land. It would take years.”

“Jim, Tom and I talked it over and he has several ideas that would make it possible to
erect the castle in a short time. He is going to use slip form construction and build the
inner and out walls simultaneously. He’ll haul in rock from several of the mines in
Madera County. The earth he needs to fill the space will come from an excavation just
outside of the outer wall. He told me that it would have the effect of nearly doubling the
height of the outer wall. Let him do it, it will keep him out of everyone’s hair. I’m going to
start up a biodiesel fuel project to stay out of everyone’s hair. I’ve come up with enough
lye and after I build a still, I’ll have the alcohol. I figure that I can process our waste fats
about as fast as we produce them.”

“I need a drink, you’re both crazy.”

“It will be a while before I have shine, Jim.”

187
Both Tom’s and Dean’s choices were logical, if not scatterbrained. Slip form construc-
tion had been used for years and was a common technique. With the proper acceler-
ants in the concrete used to hold the rock together, he could work continuously. The first
thing Tom did was lay out the circle, centered on the dome, and decide where he want-
ed the entrance to his castle.

An acre is 43,560 ft² therefore 80 acres are 3,484,800 ft². The area of a circle is pi
(3.14) times the radius squared and the radius can be calculated as 1,053 feet by divid-
ing the area by 3.14 and computing the square root of the result. The most common
form of continuous pour, slip form construction is a concrete highway and the second
most common form is probably the concrete grain elevator. This wasn’t rocket science,
but to avoid problems with the pour, it would have to be a 24/7 operation. If Tom slipped
the form at a rate of 1’ per hour, it would take over 280 days to erect the walls. That
wasn’t fast enough; he wanted the walls done in less than 100 days and the earth fill
installed within a month later assuming he allowed a cure time of 30 days for the walls.

This would determine the length of Tom’s forms. With a slip rate of 3’ per hour and an
initial cure time of 6 hours, he would need forms about 18’-21’ long. The earth was to be
compacted as it was added permitting them to pour a concrete slab on the top of the fill
dirt. Tom spent a month getting his ducks in a row because once he started; he was go-
ing to be working 12 hours a day for over 3 months. He persuaded Rob to take the other
shift. The first step was to bring a concrete bulk plant and a large volumes of sand, ce-
ment, aggregate, reinforcing fiberglass fibers plus sodium nitrate, an accelerator. That
was completed during the month Tom was lining up the ducks, in a row.

“Are we ready, Rob? It will take us about 145 days start to finish. I’d rather wait to start
this if we’re not going to be able to complete it.”

“They didn’t teach building construction in Paramedic class.”

“We have Harry Olsen to advise us, he has some experience with concrete construc-
tion. He says this is doable provided we don’t experience any breakdowns with the
equipment.”

“Who is our main equipment operator, some guy named Murphy?”

“I planned for that, we have one spare everything. Garry rounded up spare parts of the
things he thought were most likely to break. We have 5 ready mix trucks and only re-
quire 4.”

“Shelly thinks you’re crazy.”

“What do you think?”

188
“I think that Dean makes very good moonshine. Have you tried it?”

“I’m waiting for him to age the excess in that oak barrel he charred.”

“I hope we get the wall finished before Dean has a keg of bourbon.”

It took 6 months, not less than 5 to complete the wall. Murphy was operating a lot of the
equipment and Tom was able to compensate by adjusting the accelerant and the pull
rate on the slip form. The pour was continuous, but challenging.”

Three months into the project, Jim came up to Tom and announced, “I’m impressed.”

“Jim, this isn’t going the way I planned at all. The equipment was old and poorly main-
tained. If it weren’t for Garry and Gunny making repairs, I’d be in deep doo-doo. We’re
way behind schedule. I had planned on having it finished in about 145 days.”

“How deep is the ditch you’re digging to get the fill dirt?”

“It is 14’ wide and 13’ deep. That way we know when we have the soil compacted
enough to pour the concrete on top. We’re topping the 13’ of earth with about a foot of
gravel and a 6’ slab. I thought about the various ways to finish off the top of the wall, but
I couldn’t think of anything easy. So, I thought maybe we could try and use sandbags.
They’ll have to wait until we get the wall completed, we don’t have time to find any or to
fill them.”

“Want me to see what I can do to help?”

“Did you lose some of you skepticism?”

“I just want to protect whoever is standing on the wall protecting your castle. Why did
you decide that you wanted to call it Patton’s Castle?”

“George S. Patton.”

“We’re going to need sandbags and a lot of them. Anyone have any suggestions?”

“I can come up with the bags, but are you going to haul in more sand? If you do that,
you’re going to need to find another dump truck.”

“How about we fill them at the reclamation site? That way we could load them on any
standard truck and bring them back.”

189
“Good idea, we’d only need to handle the sand once.”

“What about a drawbridge to go over the moat that Tom is creating?” Manny asked. “Do
you want me to build another one out of wood?”

“Manny,” Jim replied, “I would prefer steel because wood burns. Could we scavenge
some of those plates they used to cover highway construction projects and fabricate
something out of them?”

“We could use I beams with a plate on the bottom and the top,” Gunny suggested.
“Maybe one layer of plate on the top and two layers of plate on the bottom. Has Tom
said how wide he intended the gate to be?”

“Not that I’m aware of. Gunny a bridge like that would be very heavy. I’m not sure we
could totally counterbalance it.”

“We wouldn’t need to. There are those Warn winches on the pickups. If we put one on
each side, we could lift over 20,000 pounds without difficulty. We would only need to
counterbalance the difference. The old drawbridge was built with a 1:1 mechanical ad-
vantage. If we made the counterbalance arms shorter and doubled the weight, we
wouldn’t lose any mechanical advantage and the only limit would be the strength of the
counter arms. I have some engineering tables I can consult, but I think we’d want to use
12” I beams. On the exterior rails, I’d prefer to use 12” heavy steel pipe. It would be
stronger than a comparable I beam and have the advantage of being able to be filled
with concrete in the counterbalance side.”

“I’ll talk to Tom and get the dimensions of the drawbridge he wants,” Jim offered.

“I hadn’t given it much thought, Jim. It wouldn’t need to be too wide, all we’d have to do
is to be able to get a semi-trailer across it.”

“Maybe 8’ wide?”

“You’d better make it 10’. How are you going to build it?”

“We’ll build it out of steel. Gunny had some good ideas and all he needed to know was
the dimensions.”

“I suppose 10’ wide and 15’ long should do it. It will be the weak spot in the castle.”

Perspective:

190
The King Dome in Seattle, WA was built in 1976 and razed in 2000. The facility was
660’ in diameter and therefore covered 341,946 ft² or 7.85 acres. By increasing the di-
ameter of the inner wall to 2,106’ they enclosed 3,481,660 ft² or 79.92 acres. One obvi-
ous difference was in the walls. At the apex of its dome, the King Dome was 250’ high.
The walls were probably half that height or maybe 125’. The walls of Patton’s Castle
were only 20’ high on the inside and 33’ high from the bottom of the dry moat to the top
of the outer wall. 2,106’ is 3.2 times the diameter of the King dome, however, the area
inside the circle was 10.18 times larger. You can check it by multiplying 3.2 times 3.14
and roughly verify the difference, but allow for rounding.

You might also ask yourself how much space did that dome take inside the castle walls.
It was 120’ diameter x 60’ high. The main level had ~ 11,304 square feet. The castle
had 3,481,660 ft² inside of its walls and the dome only used 0.33% of the space, ⅓ of
1%.

“You’ve advanced several yards since I was here looking it over. This is really beginning
to take shape.”

“It should stand for a few generations. Who knows, several hundred years from now,
some archeologist might examine the structure and wonder why someone would build a
castle during the 21st century.”

“I had my doubts, but not any longer. We’re working on the sandbag problem and will
have the drawbridge installed by the time you complete the circle.”

“It might just be foolishness, you know. In all of the time we’ve been here, we’ve only
had that one little band of thugs and the Army twice.”

“Possibly, but that dome sure came in handy when Long Valley erupted.”

“Martians will probably attack the planet and vaporize the walls with their ray guns.”

“That old house of yours sure takes up a lot of space, in relative terms. So does Dean’s.
Everyone is living in mobile homes these days, why don’t Dean and you move into mo-
bile homes? We could place them against the wall and could greatly increase our home
capacity.”

“I don’t believe that the septic system could handle that many homes, Jim.”

“You don’t want your drain field inside of the castle anyway Tom. I’m going to see about
building an entirely new septic system outside of the walls. We can start out with bigger
septic tanks and put in a system large enough to accommodate 50 homes plus the
dome.”

191
 A Family Alone – Chapter 38 – Complete Independence

“That would be enough housing for what, 200 people? That’s 50 times the number April
and I started with way back when. Can we grow enough food on the remaining ground
to feed that many people?”

“There is actually room for more trailers, but we need to leave room for the semi-trailers
that make up central stores.”

“Build the septic system to accommodate the maximum number of homes. My best
guess is that it would be closer to 75, so make it for 100. That way, when you’re done,
we won’t have to expand it later. You didn’t answer my question about growing food.”

“In a word, yes. But even if we couldn’t, we could have fields outside of the castle.”

“Patton’s Castle.”

“I’ll have someone paint a sign.”

While Tom and Rob completed the walls, Gunny fabricated the counterbalanced draw-
bridge and got it installed. Manny put in a new septic system down the hill and Sam
Roberts plumbed it in. Dean had evaluated various crops as a source of oil for his bio-
diesel operation and planted avocado trees. They would yield almost 300 gallons of oil
per acre. Avocados do well in the mild-winter areas of California, Florida and Hawaii.
Some hardier varieties can be grown in the cooler parts of northern and inland Califor-
nia and along the Gulf Coast. The northern limits in California are approximately Cape
Mendocino and Red Bluff. Avocados do best some distance from ocean influence but
are not adapted to the desert interior. West Indian varieties thrive in humid, tropical cli-
mates and freeze at or near 32° F. Guatemalan types are native to cool, high-altitude
tropics and are hardy 30 - 26° F. Mexican types are native to dry subtropical plateaus
and thrive in a Mediterranean climate. They are hardy 24 - 19° F.

Gunny also brought in the generator, a diesel unit. The wind turbine was outside of the
castle but with Dean producing more biodiesel that didn’t appear to be a problem. The
generator was new and could be run on B100. While the present power system wasn’t
overloaded, if they started to get occupants for the additional homes that Jim had
bought in, it could happen. Nearly six months after beginning the project, the wall com-
pleted the circle and reached the drawbridge.

“50 something year old men aren’t supposed to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week
April. I think I’m going to sit on my butt and watch the world turn.”

“You earned it.”

“Are our grandkids still alive? The last thing I remember was talking to Dean about hav-
ing a family picnic. I believe that it was the day that Linc and Selma showed up.”

192
“It’s almost Thanksgiving, Tom. It would be too late this year to have a picnic.”

“Did you change your bread recipe? It’s different somehow.”

“Selma has been baking the bread since they got here, 8 months ago. Are you still tak-
ing the vitamin supplement?”

“You mean the Prozac? Haven’t taken any for about 4 months, didn’t have the time, or
the need.”

“How did you know it was Prozac?”

“Rob told me. He suggested that as busy as I was I wouldn’t need it any longer. I guess
that I got depressed because I wasn’t keeping busy enough.”

“Maybe the war and the caldera had something to do with that, do you suppose?”

“Maybe. What is the caldera doing these days?”

“It’s settled down and hasn’t smoked since mid-summer.”

“What are we doing for Thanksgiving, having the kids in?”

“No, we’re having a community Thanksgiving dinner in the dome. We’re taking ad-
vantage of the ovens and cooking several turkeys at once.”

“What kind of orchard did you plant Dean?”

“We transplanted avocados saplings. They’ll produce a lot of oil, but it takes a while to
get the plants going. It’s an experiment to see if they will grow in this area. Meanwhile, I
been producing alcohol out of the excess grains and I’ve converted all of our excess an-
imal fats to B100 biodiesel.”

“What is our situation on fuels?”

“We’re down on #2 diesel because of the construction. I’m slowly replacing it with the
biodiesel. Once I can harvest an avocado crop, we’ll be in better shape. We’re introduc-
ing B20 fuel for the vehicles so we can get them cleaned out. Once that’s well along,
we’ll go to B50 and eventually B100.”

“How much potential is there in fuel with what you have planted?”

193
“We put in 1 acre of trees, Tom. We can get almost 300 gallons. We should be able to
feed the pulp to the hogs, it’s a good source of fiber.”

“That’s a lot of fuel per acre.”

“It’s optimum, partner. It could easily be less or the trees might not grow well in this area
at all. If they don’t we could either plant new trees lower down or switch to another crop.
200 acres of canola would produce 85% of the oil we’d get from 100 acres of avocados.
Canola is the plant that produces canola oil.”

“How are you planning on extracting the oil?”

“Probably by cold pressing them, that’s the easiest and doesn’t require any hard to get
chemicals. I don’t need to be an engineer to manage that. I would need to use steam to
extract the canola oil.”

“We’d probably better keep things simple. Is anyone helping you with the biodiesel fuel
operations? It might be a good idea for someone else to know how to produce it.”

“Garry is working with me on it part time. He doesn’t have all that much mechanical
work, except when we break another machine.”

“Most of our equipment is old and worn out, Dean. I’m surprised that Garry and Gunny
can even keep it working. I’ve done my part for security, so it’s up to you to keep us in
transportation. No matter what happens now, we’re safe behind this wall with a dome to
take cover in. Who keeps track of our provisions these days?”

“Your wife does, she has it all on your computer. Was there anything in particular that
you wanted to know?”

“I just wanted to know how long we could go if we had a crop failure.”

“I can tell you that without even asking April, Tom. All of the storage trailers are full. Last
week we brought in a mixed load of paper products. It filled us in on anything we’d been
short of. At the moment, the only thing were short of is fuel.”

“Just diesel, right? We’re ok on propane?”

“Right.”

“They’re serving dinner, let’s get in line.”

“Back when I was working on the wall, Jim suggested that we move into a mobile home
and tear down this old house.”

194
“Dean and Avis did that already.”

“I didn’t know that and Dean didn’t mention yesterday at the Thanksgiving dinner. When
is Rob’s birthday?”

“Tomorrow. I’m going to bake a cake and have Dean and Avis and all of the kids over.”

“Did you get him anything for his birthday?”

“No. Shelly said that there wasn’t anything that he needed or wanted. She’s not getting
him a present either. Samantha, Shelly and I talked it over and agreed to limit presents
to the grandchildren.”

“Just birthdays or does that go for Christmas too?”

“It’s all inclusive.”

“Damn.”

“I understand from Dean that we’re short on diesel fuel.”

“We are at the moment. It got too cold for the avocados, so that experiment of his failed.
He was telling me this morning.”

“Two steps forward and one back, huh?”

“That’s one way of looking at it I suppose.”

“We need fuel, Jim and I’m fresh out of ideas. I can’t see paying those people in Monte-
rey $5 a gallon for fuel.”

“It’s $6 a gallon now. The people up in Tracy started their own biodiesel operation. I
could contact them and see if they had any to sell and how much they want for it.”

“Do we have enough fuel to last until we can harvest and process canola next year?”

“We’ll run out of fuel about the time we get the crops planted.”

“I guess you’d better talk to Tracy then.”

“There is one other thing we could do. It’s a long shot, but it would be more affordable.”

“What’s that?”

195
“We could try and harvest used cooking oil from all of the closed up restaurants and
grills. Maybe we could also get some from donut shops, they fried donuts in oil.”

“That reminds me, Jim. I read a story once where they took a train or something and
went to food processors that used large volumes of oil to cook foods. They recovered a
lot of it and converted it to biodiesel. Our biodiesel facilities wouldn’t handle a large vol-
ume of oil, but if we could find enough and swap it with the people in Tracy would we be
ok?”

“We’d have more than enough provided we didn’t need to run the generator. At 50%
power it burns 13.3gph and at full power 27.2gph.”

“We have 24,000 gallons of fuel transport capacity. April and I have consistently
planned for the worst case. We have 235kw of power from the solar panels. With the
wind turbine, that would be more than adequate. However, what if we got ourselves sur-
rounded and whoever was behind it cut the power from our turbine? We could get by in
the daytime well enough, but what about the nighttime? I think we should plan on 12
hours a day at 50% power for a year. That would be close to 60,000 gallons of diesel.
13.3 × 12 × 365.25 = 58,294. We’ll need two more of the double bottom fuel transports
and have them full of fuel all the time just to supply the generators. The 18,000-gallons
in our underground tank would be more than enough for our vehicles. Can we find any
empty tankers?”

“We bypassed several on I-5. It wouldn’t be any trouble to pick them up, if that’s what
you want.”

“There have to be a lot of food processors in the San Joaquin Valley. If we checked the
B2B Yellow Pages we could probably come up with several. I’ll tell you what, Jim, try
and find three of the empty double bottom tanker rigs and we’ll use one for dirty oil and
the others for biodiesel. When you talk to the people in Tracy ask them if they do the
exchanges like the company in Monterey and how much a gallon they charge to convert
our used oil to biodiesel.”

“Ok Tom, I’ll try and raise them on the radio. When I get an answer, I’ll find you and let
you know what they say.”

They’ll convert it at 100% if we provide the alcohol. The rate is the same as Monterey
used to be, $1.50 a gallon or $5 a gallon without exchange.”

“What about the tankers?”

196
 A Family Alone – Chapter 39 – Energy

“I dispatched our 3 tractors to pick them up. I found a B2B Yellow Pages and located
several companies that probably fried their products. That doesn’t mean that someone
hasn’t beaten us to the punch and cleaned out their oil, but it’s worth a try.”

“It’s a shame that we don’t have more of those 18,000-gallon tanks.”

“Containment Solutions had a plant in Bakersfield. They manufactured single wall and
double wall fiberglass tanks. They made tanks up to 40,000-gallons. If I recall, that one
was about 10’ in diameter and 70’ long.”

“Any chance we could find a couple of tanks if we went to Bakersfield?”

“All we can do is look Tom. And bring back the biggest tanks we find. I’ll use the attitude
that bigger is better and more is good.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Tom, we have the three tankers. We’re going to take 2 flatbed trailers to Bakersfield
and see about the tanks. Even if we find them I don’t believe we can bring back the
40,000-gallon tanks. We shouldn’t risk hauling anything much longer that 50’. That will
mean either 2 25k or 2 30k tanks.”

“Two 30s would be perfect.”

“We’ll try.”

“Manny, we need holes dug for two fuel tanks. The tanks are 10’ in diameter and you’d
better allow for a length of 60’. Jim’s people are going to Bakersfield with 2 semis to get
2 tanks. I’m going to find Sam and talk to him about putting in the plumbing.”

“You do know that the avocados spoiled, don’t you?”

“I heard. What we’re looking to do now is find used frying oil from food manufacturers. I
know we could try Mission Tortillas in LA, but there should be several firms in this Valley
with oil too. It’s just a loose end I’m trying to tie up. I didn’t realize how much of our die-
sel that construction project took.”

“Sometimes you remind me of Dean, Tom. Have you ever noticed how Dean gets so
focused when he’s working on a project? When Rob and you were working on the wall,

197
you were just as bad. Dean has been working so hard on getting the biodiesel project
going. He has the alcohol and lye, but doesn’t get much animal fat.”

“If what we’re going to do now works out, Dean will become very important to us Manny.
He’ll be able to process used vegetable and animal fats and keep our fuel tanks topped
off. Assuming Jim’s people can get us 2 of the 30,000-gallon tanks, we can convert any
used oils we find to biodiesel through an exchange with the folks in Tracy. If we end up
with any extra, Dean can process it and keep our tanks topped off. In addition to
60,000-gallons in the new tanks, we’ll have 18,000-gallons in our old vehicle tank and
possibly another 64,000-gallons in the 4 clean fuel tankers.”

“Why do we need so much fuel, Tom? We don’t drive that much.”

“That standby diesel generator Gunny got burns anywhere from 6 to 27gph. This would
allow us to withstand a long siege if any bad guys showed up.”

“Dean can you tell me what your daily production capacity is for biodiesel?”

“500 gallons. Why?”

“Feel like converting some used vegetable oil to biodiesel?”

“If you can get the oil, I’ll make the fuel.”

“Great. I might have a line on some used oil.”

“For sure?”

“No, not for sure. We got 3 additional empty tankers and are looking for additional un-
derground tanks. We’re going to go to major food processors and take their used oil.
We’ll convert some through the folks in Tracy and you can convert the rest.”

“I’d better get going on another batch of alcohol then.”

“How do we get the oil out of the tanks if we find it?”

“They must need to change their oil periodically so they’d have a system to allow them
to do that. Take one of the 12kw generators and a large bottle of propane. Hopefully
you’ll be able to power any equipment you find. We may need a pump so try a rental
place and find one of those wastewater pumps they rent to people to pump large
amounts of water when they get flooded. Once you get the tank filled, drive it to Tracy
and drop off the oil. If there’s more oil at that location, keep going back until you get it all

198
and then you can move to the next location. We’ll dispatch one of the fuel tankers to
Tracy to pick up the biodiesel and pay for the conversion.”

“And if we don’t find any oil?”

“We’ll just have to pay Tracy full price to make sure we don’t run out before we can har-
vest the crop and extract the canola oil.”

They wouldn’t have found much oil in Fresno; there weren’t any of the food processors
that used oil to process food. Oil turned out not to be a problem, they found new clean
cottonseed oil at several different locations. Once they had a 30,000-gallon tank full,
they stopped buying converted oil from Tracy and they noted food processors that had
stores of used oil for future use. Dean was pleased that he wouldn’t have to find some
way to extract the canola oil from canola plants. Canola was a noxious weed that even
insects wouldn’t eat. Because the cottonseed oil was new and clean, they concluded
that they could fill the tankers with the oil and once it was converted, use them to store
the biodiesel. They had 72,000-gallons of oil to convert, having filled all of their tankers.
One tanker still contained gasoline.

“Was that all they had in Bakersfield, 2 30,000-gallon tanks?”

“I thought that was all you wanted. No, there were dozens of tanks in various sizes from
500-gallons up to 40,000-gallons. Do you want more?”

“More would be good, you said so yourself.”

“I’m not going to try and haul those big tanks but we’ll go back and get the other 2 30k
tanks we left sitting.”

“Get an 8,000-gallon tank while you’re at it and we’ll store that gasoline underground.
That will free up that trailer and we can fill it with cottonseed oil too.”

“This will take forever,” Dean chuckled. “I’m not complaining but I wonder why no one
else has gotten the cottonseed oil.”

“Don’t put a hex on us Dean. We’ll try to keep an inventory of raw materials for you of
80,000-gallons. Jim is going to get the other 30,000-gallon tanks from Bakersfield and
you have some place to store your biodiesel production. If you’d like, I’ll help you with
the diesel production.”

“Could we fabricate another setup to process an additional 500-gallons a day?”

199
“Who built you this equipment, Dean?”

“Sam and Gunny.”

“I’ll talk to them about building another. You can teach me and we’ll each run a proces-
sor. I’ve noticed that when I keep busy, I feel much better.”

The castle hadn’t been built in the exact location of the acreage. Tom had elected to
build it around the dome with the dome in the center of the larger circle. It had taken
weeks to rearrange everything inside the walls. Fortunately they’d had the mild winter
and by the following spring, things were relocated, 2 biodiesel converters operating and
all was well at Patton’s castle. Tom and April had moved into a singlewide and demol-
ished their old home. The younger children were growing up and getting married. They
weren’t recruiting families for the acreage anymore; they were growing their own.

“How’s it going Linc?”

“Fabulous, Tom. We placed the Claymores up against the castle walls and used them
up. We only planted a few ATMs, mostly where we pulled out the road. There are a few
of the M-14 APMs planted too, but I held off on the M-16s. They’re a nasty piece of
work. Selma is running the bakery and was talking about producing various breakfast
rolls. We picked up some golf carts for the sentries to use making their rounds on the
wall.”

“Do you regret deserting the Army?”

“What’s to regret? They probably didn’t have the means to pay my pension regardless.”

“What was the situation with the government when you left?”

“Chaotic. Executive Orders had been invoked; FEMA was running the show and using
the military to implement its decisions. For all practical purposes those nuclear attacks
ended the country, as we knew it. It will be years before the areas that got ground
bursts are free of radioactivity. I don’t have any idea what happened after the caldera
blew, I came here.”

“Do you approve of the changes we’ve made?”

“Mostly. If the military really came after this place they could stand off several miles and
use artillery to knock down the walls, or bomb it. Short of that, I think we’re secure.”

“We only had one attack by a small gang of thugs.”

200
“Then you were lucky. Rather than trying to wipe out groups that formed in some areas,
the Army went for containment. You know what I mean; they cut of roads and loosely
encircled them. I don’t know if they continued it when the caldera blew or not. Our
communications weren’t the best so we didn’t get much information.”

“What kind of groups are you talking about? Gangs or survivalist groups?”

“Both. It included any organized group that wouldn’t kowtow to their demands. I’d have
to include this group on that list, except it was too small and too far away from Fresno.
The folks in the city got most of the attention. I rather surprised that the Army hasn’t
been back. That Major wasn’t an exception; there were several officers like him.”

“That makes it difficult to define who the enemy is.”

“No it doesn’t, Tom. The enemy is anyone and everyone who would try and destroy
what we have here or try to take it from us. In some ways, this castle of yours is pro-
phetic. I don’t believe we regressed 100 years, but more like 500 years. Society is al-
most feudal.”

Feudal society is a sometimes debated term used to describe the medieval social order
of western and central Europe and sometimes Japan (particularly in the 14th to 16th cen-
turies) characterized by the legal subjection of a large part of the peasantry to a heredi-
tary landholding elite exercising administrative and judicial power on the basis of recip-
rocal private undertakings. The term’s validity is questioned by many medieval histori-
ans who consider the description “feudal” appropriate only to the specifically voluntary
and personal bonds of mutual protection, loyalty and support among members of the
administrative, military or ecclesiastical elite, to the exclusion of involuntary obligations
attached to tenure of “unfree” land.

“Are we going to try and recruit more people?” Jim asked. “We have the infrastructure to
support more families. I only bring it up because with more people, we enhance our se-
curity.”

“We could use a doctor,” Rob responded. “I truly dread the day when anyone gets really
sick or badly injured. Were that to happen, I’m convinced they would probably die. If we
could get a portable X-Ray machine and a radiological technologist, it would be a big
help. A Board Certified Radiologist would be too much to hope for, I suppose.”

“If that’s a concern Rob, we’d have to set up something more elaborate than a clinic.”

“We have more than enough room on the 3rd floor of the dome to set up a real medical
facility, Dad. What we don’t have are the human resources and equipment.”

201
 A Family Alone – Chapter 40 – Medicine

“A typical hospital has radiology and a lab. They also have a surgery and a means to
provide therapy. At best I’m operating an outpatient clinic. I’ve only had a single gunshot
wound to treat, yours. Most ailments have been common colds and a few simple frac-
tures. We lack any real medical supplies beyond basics. On top of everything else, most
of our drugs are expired.”

“Let me break this down, Rob you’re talking about several things: facilities, equipment,
personnel and supplies, it that about right?”

“Generally speaking yes.”

“If anyone has current supplies, it would be the military or FEMA. Personnel and equip-
ment are totally separate matters. We can scrounge equipment. We’ll need to recruit
personnel. Who wants to do what? And, most of all, how do we want to approach the
entire problem?”

“Jack, Linc and I will acquire supplies, if Rob will give us a list,” Gunny offered.

“There is an abandoned hospital in Fresno. If the radioactivity level is low enough, we

might be able to get equipment and some supplies.”

“If the weapon didn’t take out all of their equipment with the EMP, we could all get diag-
nostic and lab equipment there. That will leave us short a physician, a dentist and nurs-
es or assistants plus the specialists Rob mentioned like physical therapists, lab people
and the radiologist.”

“Let me check my crystal ball and see if I can locate doctors and dentists,” Tom joked.

“I’m going to radio the folks up in Tracy. It’s only a little ways out of San Francisco and
possibly they got some refugees with medical training.”

They acquired the following equipment from the hospital: Siemens Mobilett Plus Porta-
ble X-ray machine, an Acuson Sequoia Ultrasound System, both Ortho Clinical Diag-
nostic’s Vitros Chemistry System 950 and System 250 and the Vitros Immuno Diagnos-
tic System. In addition, they got 6 beds, 2 gurneys, oxygen equipment, vacuum equip-
ment, and routine supplies like bandages, IV sets, etc.

The 3 military men took some of Dean’s moonshine and went looking for a supply Ser-
geant with a thirst. Everything they brought back 3 days later was current and it included
IV solutions, antibiotics, vaccines, and a selection of generic medications to treat hyper-
tension, etc. Rob immediately set up a schedule to vaccinate all of the newborns and
new residents. Over time, he had prepared files on each person who lived at the acre-

202
age and the file included their medical histories, known allergies, and so forth. Tracy
had people who had worked at the University of San Francisco Hospital and an East
Bay hospital. With these people, the only personnel they were short were the physician,
dentist, and nurses.

Not all doctors marry nurses. Some marry other doctors and some marry their recep-
tionists. When they finally found their doctor, they got a set, an Internalist and a Sur-
geon. She diagnosed them and he fixed them. They still didn’t have a dentist – all they
had were toothaches.

Add:
22. Drs. William and Jean Wilson, Cynthia and Joseph (4) Physicians
23. John and Mary Jones, Shirley (3) Imaging
24. Rudy and Maria Martinez, Javier, Ramon and Evita (5) Laboratory
25. Robert and Sharon Paulson, Laura and Derek (4) Physical Therapy-both

“Doctor if you could make a list of things we need to add to the hospital, we’ll attend to
it.”

“The clinic is well equipped Rob. Jean can use it to see patients. I’m going to need sur-
gical instruments, an autoclave, anesthetic gasses, anesthetic drugs, and a surgical ta-
ble. I see you have oxygen and vacuum, but we’ll need a monitor for the patient.”

“Doctor, if you want to come with me to the hospital in Fresno where we got the equip-
ment we can pick out whatever you need. Some of the equipment there is junk, wiped
out by the EMP. However, some survived in good condition. We didn’t have any idea
what we would need so we didn’t bring it. I can’t promise we’ll find everything you need,
but we can look.”

“Have you typed all of the residents in case we need to do a transfusion?”

“I pulled the blood samples and Rudy is working on that.”

“I hope we don’t have anyone with a rare blood type.”

There is no universal blood donor type. Donated blood is routinely classified by type as
A, B, AB or O, and as Rh positive or Rh negative. In the past, people with Type O/Rh
negative blood were considered universal blood donors. This implied that anyone, re-
gardless of blood type, could receive Type O/Rh negative blood without risking a trans-
fusion reaction.

203
But scientists now have a much better understanding of the complex issues related to
reactions to incompatible blood donor types. Even donors with Type O/Rh negative
blood may have antibodies in their blood that cause serious reactions. Before a blood
transfusion, small samples of the recipient’s and donor’s blood are mixed to check com-
patibility. Doctors refer to this as cross matching. Despite these precautions, an adverse
reaction may still occur.

Over 60-percent of all needed transfusions are plasma. Plasma is the liquid part of your
blood that carries your platelets, red cells and white cells through your body. Often, pa-
tients are better served by receiving only the component that is best to treat their partic-
ular illness. Plasma supports the recovery of hundreds of patients suffering with liver
disease, severe burns, hemophilia, and leukemia. Transplant and cardiac patients are
also helped by plasma transfusions. Plasma provides essential clotting factors to these
patients.

Plasmapheresis is the separation of the plasma from the rest of the blood and requires
the use of a special apheresis machine. The machine draws blood from the donor and
runs it through a centrifuge that separates the plasma, then immediately returns the rest
of the blood to you. Three whole blood donations equal one Plasmapheresis donation.
Plasmapheresis, like whole blood, only requires the use of one arm for donation. The
experience is more comfortable than with other blood donations because a smaller size
needle is used. Plasma products can be frozen in an ultra-cold freezer for up to one
year after donation to preserve the valuable clotting factors. These factors do not sur-
vive in plasma stored at room temperature.

A plasma transfusion is blood type specific. It takes all blood types to meet the needs of
the patients in the area. However, even though O- is the universal blood type when it
comes to red cells, AB donors are considered universal when it comes to plasma. The
Plasmapheresis program is ideal for those AB+ or AB- whole blood donors that are not
often called to donate whole blood, but would.

The approximate distribution of blood type in the US is: O+ 38%; B+ 9%; O- 7%; B- 2%;
A+ 34%; AB+ 3%; A- 6%; and AB- 1%. Autologous donation allows you to donate your
own blood for your own use. Allogeneic donations refer to a community blood supply. In
an emergency, anyone can receive type O Red Blood Cells, and type AB individuals
can receive Red Blood Cells of any ABO type. Therefore, people with type O blood are
known as “universal donors” and those with type AB blood are known as “universal re-
cipients.” In addition, AB Plasma Donors can give to all blood types.

They retrieved an apheresis machine and began storing type AB plasma, just in case. It
was stored in a special freezer for storing Fresh Frozen Plasma - capable of tempera-
tures down to –86° C. Was blood type going to be the next qualification for residency?
They needed type AB blood to produce universal plasma.

204
It wasn’t, of course, and the enclosure slowly gained more residences, all singlewide
mobile homes. The livestock was pastured inside and land outside of the facility was
tilled and grew their food. It wasn’t too long before they ran out of space to store fuel
because of their weekly production, 5,000-gallons. Two men each producing 500-gpd
can produce a lot of fuel in 5 days. And as eventually happens, their batteries began to
fail, finally forcing them to run the generator during the nighttime, which inadvertently
helped solve the fuel storage problem. With more land to farm, they made a second trip
and found more farm machinery.

There was enough cottonseed oil to keep them in vegetable oil and fuel for several
years but paper products started to get scare. The San Joaquin Valley is home for at
least a dozen cottonseed oil producers. It also produced more cotton than most any
other place in the country, before the war. Jack, Linc and Gunny got more shine and
went looking for their supply Sergeant. It worked, but they were quickly reminded that
the military always buys its products from the lowest bidder. Have you used the cheap
commercial toilet paper recently? It ain’t Charmin.

The Dentist was their last professional. Dr. Dan Corcoran came from a community in the
central valley, Porterville. He was young, maybe 30, and single. He had barely started in
practice when the war occurred. His dental hygienist, Suzanne Bailey, and he had a re-
lationship. That is what they call mutually convenient arrangements (shack jobs) these
days isn’t it? He had a touch, you had to give him that, and Suzanne was attractive
enough to distract some of his male patients. They had a bumper food crop that sum-
mer and decided they could cut back the following year; storage space was at a premi-
um.

Add; 26. Dr. Dan Corcoran and Suzanne Bailey (2) Dentist/Hygienist

“Tom, we need to call a meeting, I think maybe we have trouble headed our way.”

“What’s going on Jim?”

“We heard on the radio that a group in the High Dessert around Edwards Air Force
Base has been raising hell. One ham operator said that they raided the Barstow/Yermo
facility and helped themselves to a lot of weapons and munitions. He didn’t think they
had any tanks or artillery, but they’re a large, well-armed group. They’ve been raiding
communities and slowly working their way north. They hit Bakersfield and apparently
took those residents down there prisoner.”

“Let’s have a meeting and talk this over.”

205
“Jim tells me that we might have trouble headed this way. Jim, please outline what you
heard.

“I got this from a ham in Tehachapi, and I can’t vouch for its accuracy. Apparently a
group from the Antelope Valley raided Barstow/Yermo and secured weapons and muni-
tions. After exhausting the resources down there, they moved on Mojave and California
City. Later they hit Tehachapi and finding little worth taking there moved on to Bakers-
field. The latest information I have is that they’re moving up state route 99. They made it
as far as Delano. That’s all I know for certain.”

“If they’re coming up 99, the next big community they would come to is Tulare. After Tu-
lare, they could hit either Visalia or Hanford. After that, the only thing between them and
Fresno is Selma. There isn’t much in Fresno for them to get so they’ll probably either
continue up 99 or come up 41 to get to Yosemite.”

“There isn’t anything where our road junctions with 41 to attract their attention is there?”
Gunny asked.

“There shouldn’t be, no. The only thing I can think of is the stubble in the fields where
we farmed this past summer.”

“Do we know any more about this group?”

“The ham suggested that they might have escaped from the state prison in Lancaster.
He didn’t know if they gone to the prison in California City or Tehachapi, but if they’re
cons, it’s even money.”

“Did he say how many of them there were?”

“In the low hundreds.”

“Fellas,” Jim began, “Linc did a good job of disguising the old road, but the new road is
an entirely different matter. If it were warmer weather, we could transplant some shrubs
and conceal the new road. However, I can’t see where we could do that this late in the
year. I expect it will be up to our Bradley CFVs to act as a blocking force if they stumble
on either road and try to head here.”

“Why would they come here, Jim?” Linc asked. “If they try to come up the old road
they’ll hit the minefield. If they come up the new road, we can chew them up with the
Bradley’s. I can’t see where the risk to us is.”

“In either event, they’ll know someone is to their west. If I’m any judge of human nature,
they’ll want to know what. Not knowing what’s behind could pose risks to them. If they
see any signs of life I’d expect them to come in by one of the roads.”

206
“I don’t see that it’s a problem either,” Tom suggested. “We can outlast them. Provided
the siege doesn’t last more than a couple of years, that is.”

207
 A Family Alone – Chapter 41 – Helter Skelter

Preparations for a possible attack were orderly. Magazines were loaded and they and
ammo distributed to strategic locations on the wall. Chunks of thick logs were also place
along the wall for the shorter people to stand on. Jim dispatched scouts to keep an eye
on route 41, just in case the bad guys might come their way. A snowstorm deposited 3-
4” of snow obliterating overt signs of the new road they now used.

“You should have named this fortification Tom’s Place.”

“Dean, the name was taken; Tom’s Place is over on 395.”

“Was over on 395, the eruption obliterated it.”

“Strange name.”

“It was a little resort. Tom’s Place was originally built in 1917 by a German man named
Hans Lof. It all started with a much-needed gas station to fuel the traffic moving up from
Southern California. Lof built a cookhouse, added a store and corrals, and then started
packing people into the mountains for a wilderness getaway. In 1923, Thomas Jefferson
Yerby and his wife, Hazel (stage actress, Jane Grey) purchased the business for $5,000
and Tom build the original Tom’s Place Lodge in 1924.”

“So the place was named after the lodge?”

“It would seem so, yes.”

“Do we need to process any more biodiesel?”

“Full up at the moment, Tom. All of the vehicles are filled and we don’t have space for
more than 50 gallons.”

“I hate waiting, especially for trouble.”

“I agree. I’m not sure which is worse, knowing that you’re going to get attacked or sitting
around wondering whether it might happen.”

“With the snowstorm, they’ll probably drive right on by.”

“What are they doing?”

“They’ve stopped and are looking at the old road signs. It appears to me that they’re try-
ing to decide which way to go.”

208
“Left, turn left, please...”

“Talk louder, I don’t believe they heard you.”

“Crap, I think maybe you’re right. What are they doing now?”

“It would appear that they’re dividing up. Most of them are taking your advice and turn-
ing left, but some are coming our way.”

“Castle, scout.”

“Go ahead scout.”

“We have a small party headed our way.”

“10-4. Is it a small enough group we can take them out before they get to Hildreth?”

The smaller group is about 600, fort.”

“10-4, RTB and don’t leave any tracks in the new snow.”

“Roger.”

“Linc, I think you’d better move the Bradley’s up.”

“Ok Jim. I’ll take one, Gunny a second, Jack a third and do you want to take the last?”

“Dean will drive and I’ll take the gun,” Tom interrupted. “We need another person and
someone to handle the TOW missiles.”

“Are you sure? We can get some younger people.”

“Put them reloading the TOW, their heavy. Firing the Bushmaster doesn’t require much
effort.”

“I’ll drive, but could someone tell where the starter is?” Dean joked.

“Who is in charge, Gunny, Jack or Linc?”

“Linc will give the orders.”

“Fine, be sure and raise the drawbridge when we’re outside. Don’t forget to drape the
curtain so they can’t shoot anything in between the top of the gate and the bridge over
the gate. Got your rifle, Dave?”

“I’m ready Tom, let’s do it!”

209
°

“Here they come. Linc tell them to get in the fort. If these Bradley’s don’t stop the bad
guys, 2 scouts won’t make any difference.”

“Click, click.”

“Dean, I’m going to use the 7.62 coax. We’d better reserve the 25mm for later. How far
are we from the road?”

“Maybe 2½ miles, we’re halfway between the castle and the road. It’s too far for the co-
axial gun.”

“That’s about the limit of the range of the big gun, too. Linc, do you want us to move
up?”

“Negative, remain in place.”

“10-4.”

The scouts had left their vehicle in the woods and gotten aboard a snowmobile. Linc in-
structed them to return to the castle and button it back up. The curtain was a piece of
flexible mesh draped from the bridge that was built over the drawbridge. It was intended
to catch something like an RPG if it were fired just above the drawbridge. RPGs weren’t
particularly prevalent in the US, but it would stop a LAW or an AT-4. Most of the RPG
like weapons had a limited range and couldn’t reach the dome from outside of the wall.

“Cross your fingers, they’re beginning to pass,” Linc instructed.

“Clear, that’s the last one. Ok, everyone RTB.”

Kaboom…

“What the hell was that?” Tom started.

“Linc was that one of the landmines?” Dean asked.

“Affirmative. Move to the old road and take up a position to repel them. Move up to
about 1 mile from the road when we get there. Use the coaxial machine guns. Move…
they’re clearing the minefields.”

“How?”

210
“Hand grenades. Open fire when you’re in position.”

Linc’s minefield was only 200 meters deep, 100 meters of M-19 ATMs and 100 meters
of M-14 APMs. There was a burning pickup, or what remained of one, that had appar-
ently hit an ATM. The bad guys were tossing hand grenades in an attempt to force the
ATMs and APMs to explode in place. Their tactic was working. The 25mm Bushmasters
opened up and destroyed several more vehicles. .50 caliber bullets began to ping off
the Bradley’s. It wasn’t a problem, the M2A2 / M3A2 could handle up to 30-mm cannon
fire.

“We’re getting low on ammo. Linc, we’re about out of ammo.”

“10-4. Get ready to pull back. Castle, lower the drawbridge, we’re coming in.”

“How long did you say we could stay here buttoned up?”

“About 2 years; longer if they don’t take down the wind turbine. Jim, what’s our situa-
tion?”

“The scouts reported that they divided their force with about ⅔ of them going up 99.
They have some HMMWVs in both units. They probably have radios. We can monitor
them with the CCTV camera.”

“Bonk…bonk…bonk…”

“Turn that alarm off. That’s the wind turbine, the generator was already up.”

“Here you go fellas,” Selma said handing them a large plate of apple fritters. “Enjoy
them, I don’t have a lot of the apple fritter mix left.”

“We’re getting suppressing fire on the walls,” Jim advised.

“Damn, I sure wish we’d have installed the Bouncing Betty’s.”

“I did,” Linc smiled. “After Jim told us about the radio message from that ham, I installed
all of them outside of the dry moat. They’re sparely distributed but they’ll be easy to
move come spring because I only put them in the snow.”

“Snug as a bug in a rug, huh?”

“Try the apple fritters, Selma outdid herself.”

211
“With the mobile homes up against the wall, I doubt they’ll hit them with any of their
weapons. How many of them are there now?”

“About 30 minutes ago, the other group came in and joined them. Jim seems to think
that there are about 2,000 altogether.”

“Are we encircled?”

“Apparently, yes.”

“Good, it’s supposed to get down to zero tonight. What’s Jim doing about sentries on
the wall?”

“I have 12 people on the wall Tom, one about every 100 yards. They’re just observing
and not returning fire. The guys outside are starting to group up.”

“Dave, what do you have for missiles? Do we have any LAWs or AT-4s?”

“We have a few, what did you have in mind?”

“Pass out whatever you have and around 0300, drop a rocket into the groups.”

“I’d rather save the LAWS for later; we can do that with the 40mm grenades.”

“I told you that we should have gone to Barstow/Yermo,” Jim shook his head.

“We don’t need to now; we can just wait until they’re all frozen to death and collect their
weapons.”

“How is everyone doing?” Rob asked. “Did anyone get hurt while you were outside
fighting?”

“Rob, the only thing we got hurt was our feelings. They managed to get through Linc’s
minefields and get to the castle. They have us surrounded.”

“All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind
us... they can’t get away this time.” (Lieutenant General Lewis B. ‘Chesty’ Puller (sur-
rounded by 8 enemy divisions))

“They’ve got us surrounded again, the poor bastards.” (Creighton W. Abrams, Jr. (dur-
ing the Battle of the Bulge))

“Somebody shoot of a flare, we wouldn’t want them to fall asleep yet.”

212
 A Family Alone – Chapter 42 – Long Night’s Journey into Day

Eugene O’Neill died in 1953 and his story was the other way around.

“It’s just a shame we don’t have any firecrackers.”

“The hell we don’t, I’ve been improvising for years.”

“Pass some out, Gunny, and just when they get to sleep, have someone toss another
string.”

“Get them passed out?”

“Yep, they’ll stop at 0200 and let them really get sound asleep for our 0300 attack.”

“How many hand grenades do we have?”

“Maybe a couple of hundred, why?”

“When, eventually, they try to rush the place it might be nice to have some grenades to
toss over the wall into the dry moat.”

“Would M116A1 hand grenade simulators work? I have a lot of those and M115A2
ground burst simulators.”

“How many is a lot?”

“I have more simulators than grenades and more of the ground burst simulators than
hand grenade simulators. Those things come with a warning that says, ‘The M115A2
Ground Burst Projectile Simulator is more powerful than the M116A1 Hand Grenade
Simulator. It is not to be used near personnel due to potential hazard from fragmenta-
tion. Do not throw M115A2 Simulators within 35 meters of unprotected personnel. When
using the M115A2 Simulator, the thrower should turn away from the Simulator and get
into a protective stance after throwing. The safety radius of the M116A1 Simulator is 15
meters.’ They can hurt you if you’re too close.”

“How did you come by those?”

“We all know the military never makes mistakes, but civilians do. Must have been a typo
and the white out flaked off. They were shipping the things to us in sets, 5 cases of
M115A2s and 3 cases of M116A1s. We ordered 1 set and got 11. The extras were set
aside to be returned and overlooked. One of my buddies was bitching about all of the
space they took and I offered to help him out. Altogether, I have 80 cases of the things.”

213
“Where are they?”

“Stored.”

“Pass them out tomorrow, will you, Gunny? Put some at every one of the positions on
the wall. We’ll use those up before we resort to our hand grenades.”

“We have a dead zone on our CCTV camera coverage,” Jim pointed out. “We put the
camera on a 60’ mast above the dome so it is 120’ above ground level. However, it is
1,076’ from the outside of the outer wall so we can’t see the dry moat or area just on the
other side of it with the camera.”

“Can’t we mount some cameras on the walls?”

“Sure we can, do you have any? I don’t. Your castle is very secure, Tom, but it’s not
without its shortcomings. Anyone raising his or her head above the wall has attracted
fire. We’ve been lucky, so far no one has been wounded or killed. The grenade attack
you’re planning for 0300 won’t stand much repeating either. They’re bound to move
their lines back out of the range of the M203s.”

“I don’t suppose you put in an escape tunnel to get us out of the castle if we did get
overrun?”

“I didn’t think we’d need one,” Tom replied.

“We probably don’t, Tom, but if we had one we could get behind them and screw with
them a little.”

“If I had put one in, it wouldn’t have gone more than 200-300-yards beyond the dry moat
in any event. If you’re right about them pulling back, we’d still be inside their circle. I’m
going to get some sleep. Someone wake me up at 0230, I don’t want to miss the fun.”

The sound of the 40mm grenades exploding woke Tom. They let him oversleep and he
was irritated. Very.

“What the hell? They were supposed to wake me.”

“You needed your sleep. I wouldn’t let them wake you.”

“I guess it’s all over now. Darn it, I wanted to watch.”

“And get your head shot off? You can look in the morning.”

“Well, I’m awake now so I’m going to check in with C³I.”

214
“Hey guys, how did it go?” Tom asked when he made it to the 4th floor.

“Varying results, but overall good. We probably killed or wounded 100 of them. They re-
turned fire but also dropped back.”

“Anyone hurt?”

“Not inside the castle, no. They must have had someone in their group with a military
background because as soon as they got their stuff together, they pulled back about
500 meters. Now we can watch them with the TV camera.”

“How are they equipped?”

“From what we could see and what we learned yesterday, rifles, handguns, shotguns
and 5.56, 7.62 and .50 caliber machine guns.”

“Nothing heavier? One Mk 19 could really spoil our day.”

“Didn’t see one, no. And, before you ask, they haven’t set up any mortars.”

“Did you pass out the ballistic face shields? Rob and Sherry both had them and when
the guys picked up those Berettas from the Sheriff’s department they picked all they
could find.”

“They won’t stop a rifle bullet.”

“They’ll stop rock chips.”

“Right, we’ll pass them out.”

“What do we do now?”

“I’ll be damned if I know, it’s a standoff.”

“I thought they might freeze their butts off and leave.”

“Doesn’t appear so Tom,” Dean replied.

“Those are military tents that they must have picked up at Barstow/Yermo,” Gunny sug-
gested.

“Other than some occasional suppressing fire, they haven’t made a move. What do you
think are they trying to starve us out?”

215
“Apparently, they must not realize how long we can hold out.”

“How is the work coming on the tunnel?”

“It took a while to get it started. We went down 30 feet so we wouldn’t cause the dry
moat to cave in. We’ve had to shore the thing the entire distance, which was slowing us
down. It appears that we’re only making about 15’-20’ a day. We’ve been spreading the
soil in the area we’re going to use for crops and we’ve barely created a layer of soil so
far.”

“How much longer until we finish?”

“At least 2 months, providing you still want to go the full 2,000’. Why not 1,800’?”

“That’s only 549 meters. We have to go 2,000 feet and get out about 610 meters to
reach that little stand of brush. What would that take, another 10-15 days?”

“Provided we don’t run out of shoring material.”

“We cut more of the logs into planks if we have to, I don’t want to come up in the middle
of one of their tents.”

“It’s not going to happen. We’ll dig halfway to Fresno if we have to. We’re starting to run
into rock so the tunnel is getting closer to the surface. Our best guess is that we’ll be
about 20’ deep when we get to the bushes.”

“I’m going to…” Tom stopped talking, grabbed his head and sank to the floor.

“Someone get Rob or a doctor, we’ve got a man down here,” Gunny instructed.

“Tom’s had a hemorrhagic stroke, Drs. Wilson are in agreement, and I’m afraid that it’s
inoperable. He thinks that Tom will die in less than 3 hours,” Rob explained. “He has a
large amount of bleeding and is rapidly getting worse. Plus the aneurysm is too deep for
surgery, even if we had a neurosurgeon available. I’m sorry Mom.”

“Had a good run didn’t he? I want to be with him.”

216
 A Family Alone – Chapter 43 – Epilog

“That was a very nice service, I think Tom would have liked it.”

“What are you going to do now April?”

“Take over Tom’s responsibilities; at least until we get ourselves out of this fix we’re in.
He kept me up to date, how are you coming with the tunnel?”

“We have a way to go before we’ll be ready to go up.”

“How do you intend to put a large group of people out of a little hole in the ground? I
never could figure that part out. I think you should have a slope and you could put out
our entire force at once.”

“That was never the plan. We intended to put out a few people and do some of that
commando stuff.”

“Then I’m changing the plan. Tom and I owned all but one acre of the land that we
started with and since I’m taking Tom’s place, we’ll do it my way.”

“What are we going to do?”

“Tom said that you were being forced up because of the rock. Continue that and when
you get to the brush, angle the tunnel up steeply. Leave only enough soil to hold the
plants in place. We can blow out that patch of dirt and boil out and give them hell. Tom
said we had grenades, and those blast simulators. We’ll use those. If we get enough of
them maybe the rest will leave. Prepare charges to blow the tunnel in case we all get
killed.”

“That’s very likely to happen; you know that, don’t you?”

“What’s that Indian saying; it will be a good day to die? We taking some of those bas-
tards with when we go, count on it.”

“How long is it going to take to get this operation going?”

“We told Tom a couple of months, but maybe we can accelerate that a little.”

“Keep me informed; I’m not going to worry myself to death over this too.”

“Mom you shouldn’t be doing this,” Rob and Sam insisted.”

217
“What should I be doing, wearing sackcloth and flailing myself? You dad and I never did
things that way.”

“But you’re not a soldier and you don’t have any experience,” Rob protested.

“Neither are you, Rob. You’re a cop and Paramedic and you’ll be there acting as our
hospital corpsman. It doesn’t take a lot of brains to pull a cotter pin out of a grenade and
toss it. If we can take them by surprise, we stand a fair chance of doing some serious
damage. Tom was telling me a couple days before he died that there is a mount for
those Bushmaster cannon that they used on ships. Talk to Gunny about that and see if
we can fabricate one for two of our guns.”

“April, Rob says you want me to fabricate some Mk 88 machine gun mounts for our
Bushmasters. If that’s what you want, I’ll try and cobble something together.”

“I don’t know the number Gunny but Tom said they used them on ships.”

“Right, they use the Mk 88 mount and call the system the Mk 38. Where do you want
them?”

“Put 2 so they can cover our attack from the tunnel.”

“I’m going to have to fabricate some kind of protection for the gunners, too.”

“Do we have any of the ¾” plate left?”

“A couple of pieces from building the drawbridge.”

“Can you use it?”

“I’ll try. I might be able to work something out. We hit some softer dirt. The tunnel is go-
ing faster but is taking more shoring.”

“How much will that advance the time table?”

“It should cut it by 20 days.”

“Which will only leave you 6 weeks to perfect the mounts and the armor plates, right?”

“I’m on it.”

“He didn’t suffer did he?”

218
“Just when the vessel let loose. He had a very sharp pain and passed out. Never re-
gained consciousness so he didn’t suffer.”

“I thought you were keeping an eye on his health.”

“I was Mom; his blood pressure wasn’t terribly high, 130 over 80. Lord only knows how
long he had the weak vessel. Aneurysms are difficult to diagnose without CT or MRI
and you have to suspect one before you could make the test. Anyway, we didn’t have
either a CT or a MRI so we couldn’t have checked anyway. And, if we had known for
sure, we couldn’t have fixed it.”

“As long as he didn’t suffer. Gunny said he make up the M88 mounts for those Bush-
masters. We’ll put 2 in the front to cover that attack. If we can use those and our ma-
chine guns, we might have them pinned down and our raid will be more successful. We
can still use the Bradley’s and their coaxial machine guns, right?”

“The maximum range is 1,700 meters so yes, we can still use them.”

“I’m going to start a batch of bread, I’ve got to keep busy or go crazy.”

“Before you do, go see Dr. Jean Wilson and have her check you over, mom.”

“Rob I feel fine.”

“So did dad.”

When you’ve known a person for most of your life and have faith, you can accept his or
her loss, no matter how painful it is. April was trying to replace her pain with work, a
good idea up to a point. Dr. Jean Wilson gave April a comprehensive exam and could
find nothing wrong. She nevertheless started April on an antidepressant because when
the campaign against the bad guys was over, April would have time to be depressed.

The tunnel was moving rapidly now at three times the pace of before. Gunny fabricated
the mounts for the Bushmasters and they were mounted on the wall on either side of
the drawbridge. Then someone got a ‘good’ idea and they built a vehicle ramp so they
could move a Bradley up to the wall. The Bradley was a tight fit with only 2’ free space
on either side. The overall height of the vehicle is 9’ and the width 10’

“Put up both of the CFVs with the Bushmasters and circle the wall,” April directed. “Take
out their vehicles and as many of them as we can. Make random tours and keep them

219
off balance. Layoff after a day and then do it again a couple of days later. Keep them
confused and worrying.”

“We should have done this sooner,” Gunny laughed. “This is what they call a target rich
environment.”

“I have a batch of fresh bread if anyone wants to stop by the trailer. I only made 12
loaves but they didn’t come out half bad.”

“Linc, your wife makes a good loaf of bread, but you need to taste April’s.”

“Right and if I liked it better get my head handed to me on a plate? I’ll pass. When do
you want to start the harassment operation?”

“There is no time like the present.”

The tunnel was about 2 weeks from completion when the harassment began. It was an
odd schedule, picked at random from a hat with times written on slips of paper. It had
the short-term effect of eliminating most of the cons vehicles, effectively trapping the
cons outside of the castle. The first pass enjoyed the greatest success with a few hun-
dred of the cons lying dead or wounded. The randomness of the whole affair saw the
cons getting organized and hunkering down. Their return fire was ineffective.

“We’re ready to go,” Gunny announced. “I’ve passed out 3 M67s and a dozen of the
M115A2s to everyone participating. The tunnel is mined if we need it and extra ammo
stores are near the end of the tunnel for ready access. We make one more pass with
the Bradley’s on the wall and then push them out of the castle. That should hold their
attention long enough that we can come up in the thicket and start this thing.”

“I’ll get my gear,” April announced.

“Wait a minute April, you’re not going.”

“The hell I’m not Gunny, I’m finishing this fight. I’m leading a squad and if you think you
can stop me, you’d better starting looking for the crutches right now.”

“Let her go Gunny, I’ll be on her squad,” Dean suggested. “Tom always said that he
never really won a fight with her since ‘86.”

April was armed with a Saiga shotgun and a M4A1 carbine as a backup. She drew her
grenades and made her way down the tunnel, her load of ammo nearly staggering her.
The Bradley’s made their final run around the castle and burst out over the drawbridge.

220
They got the go sign over a radio relay and the small charges set to blow out the last
couple of feet of soil, roots and bushes were detonated. The cons never even noticed
the large patch of soil and bushes disappear, or if they did assumed it must have been
caused a 25mm round. They caught the first group flatfooted and wiped them out im-
mediately. They had 4 wounded, none killed. The cons they wounded didn’t stay that
way very long.

Teenagers were pressed into service delivering additional ammo and the M115A2s. Af-
ter the group outside the drawbridge was eliminated, the two Bradley’s missing their
Bushmaster’s went back inside and they were reinstalled. Late in the day on the first
day, the cons counterattacked. The two Bradley’s that were being refitted came out of
the castle and stopped them cold.

Sharpshooters deployed to the walls killed some of the attackers and the group, which
consisted of 6 squads, worked their way around the circle. They used a pickup as an
ambulance and took their own wounded back inside for treatment. Retrieved body ar-
mor was passed to the members of the 6 squads as was the cons ammo and ordnance.

The final tally was castle 1, cons 0. They didn’t take prisoners either. The bodies were
stacked in a field to be burned in the spring, out of sight of the castle itself. Before they
had a chance to burn those bodies, the Army showed up.

“Where were you when we needed you?”

“We had no idea that they had you folks surrounded. We went to Yosemite and were
waiting for them,” the Lt. Colonel replied.

“They can’t make it Colonel, their get up and go got up and went.”

“Do you need anything?”

“What do you have?”

“Some of everything.”

“Gunny, I’ll print a list off of my computer, I updated the inventory last night,” April said.

“What happened here?”

“They almost missed us but spotted the old road into the area. We ended up retreating
to the castle and were prepared for a long siege. The fella in charge, Tom Henson,

221
didn’t put in an escape tunnel and we started one. Tom had a stroke and died and his
wife April, the lady you just met, took over. We finished the tunnel and then attacked.”

“Lose many people?”

“90% of us got wounded, but nobody died. We have 2 doctors here and a small hospi-
tal. Unfortunately all of the attackers died from their wounds.”

“We noticed, head shots.”

“Here’s your list, Colonel.”

“It will take a while, but we’ll get you most of these things. We’ll load those bodies and
haul them away for you.”

“What’s going on around the country?”

“General chaos, unrest, limited supplies, just what you’d expect. Does this place have a
name?”

“It does. Tom called it Patton’s Castle. Called it his monument to stupidity.”

“Didn’t seem to work out that way, from what I’ve seen. I’ve got to be going; we’ll get
those supplies to you as quickly as possible. Keep your powder dry, this thing isn’t
over.”

© 2011, Gary D. Ott

222