Stefan Pastis does it again! Click the image to be taken to a larger version at the "Pearls Before Swine" Web page.
I sense a business opportunity here. I still have farmer friends in South Africa who aren't far from major inland rivers, complete with Nile crocodiles. How many crocodiles per yard of moat, do you think? Given enough wetbacks moatbacks, they wouldn't require much feeding, either!
Late last month, I wrote about Kat Ainsworth Stevens.
She's a friend and occasional member of the North Texas Troublemakers, and an active gun writer - you've probably read articles by her if you read gun mags or several well-known Internet sites. When last I wrote about her, she was facing imminent surgery for breast cancer, and since she's a free-lancer, she doesn't have medical insurance to help.
She's had her surgery, which was massive - double mastectomy, every lymph gland in sight, all that sort of thing. She's recovering from it at present, and is facing both radiation and chemotherapy to knock down any remaining traces of the cancer. To make matters worse, her four-year-old son developed some sort of intestinal disorder that required him to be hospitalized as well: but Kat can't visit him much, because her wounds are still draining and the risk of infection is simply too great. That's a very tough row to hoe.
Kat's received her first bill from the hospital. It's well into the five-figure bracket, and it won't be the last, either, what with chemical and radiological therapy still to come. Her friends have therefore organized a raffle for a Foxtrot Mike Ranch Rifle (description at link).
The one on offer in the raffle has been upgraded even further, making it a very desirable firearm. Click the link to see it in more detail, with more and larger images, and enter for the raffle. Any donation up to $100, no matter how small, gets one ticket, and multiple tickets are given for larger donations - details at the link.
Kat's good people, and deserves our help. Please donate whatever you can afford, either to the raffle, or (if you prefer) to the original GiveSendGo fundraiser, which is still in operation.
Thanks, friends.
Peter
Many of you have doubtless read articles in gun magazines and related publications by Kat Hel. Lately she's written under her married name of Katherine Ainsworth Stevens. She's a friend to most of us in the North Texas Troublemakers, and to my wife and I. She visited our home just a week ago.
Kat has been diagnosed with breast cancer, and it's the nasty kind. She's to undergo a double mastectomy within weeks, followed by reconstructive surgery and all the cancer-related treatments (chemotherapy, possibly radiation therapy, and so on). She has to handle all this while coping with a four-year-old son and a husband who's himself undergoing treatment for a long-term condition, and is thus less able to help. It's a hell of a load on her shoulders. To make matters worse, Kat is a free-lance writer. She doesn't have medical insurance, and has to pay for all the costs involved out of her (minuscule) savings - which are already exhausted. The hospital is helping as best it can, but the specialists involved are demanding their pound of flesh (you should pardon the expression) in cash.
A friend of Kat's has launched a GiveSendGo fundraiser for her medical expenses. Dorothy and I have already contributed separately, as have many of our friends. She needs a lot of money, so I'm boosting the signal here. If you're able to help Kat, she's good people and deserves our aid. Please click over to her fundraiser and contribute whatever you can. It'll be money well spent.
Thanks in advance, friends.
Peter
In early October I asked for your help for James and Tirzah Burns, two friends of long standing. James had been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic disease, and was in hospital, and another friend had launched a fundraiser to help them with related expenses. Many thanks to those who donated.
Sadly, James' illness was too far advanced. He died on October 29th. I mentioned it in these pages, and again asked for your help for the family with funeral and other expenses. Again, some readers were generous, and helped a great deal.
Tirzah is now dealing with all the post-funeral bureaucratic paperwork, and preparing their two children for life without Dad at home. It's going to be tough for them. Despite all the distractions and the pain of her loss, she sent me this brief text message this morning: "Peter, please thank your readers for me for such kind donations". Together, we helped her keep the family afloat, financially speaking, while James was no longer able to earn a living, and now his life insurance and other assistance are in the process of kicking in (once all the paperwork is done). They should be able to cope for several months at least.
I'd like to add my personal thanks to Tirzah's. She's good people, as are her children. My wife and I hope to have them visit us sometime soon, to relax and get over the stress of the past few months. They're definitely the kind of people worthy of our support.
Peter
Regular readers will remember my bleg a few weeks ago to help James and Tirzah Burns. James was suffering from pancreatic and other problems, and was in a bad way. I linked to a GiveSendGo fundraiser for them.
Sadly, James didn't make it. His illness was too far advanced. He went home last week under hospice care, and died yesterday afternoon.
Tirzah is left with their two young children, a son and a daughter, and now has to take care of all the arrangements for the funeral and a host of legal paperwork. James was the family breadwinner, so there's also the question of how the family will earn a living in future. My wife and I love and highly respect Tirzah, so we're sure she'll be working hard to find solutions, but to lose one's "other half" is . . . well, to call it "traumatic" is a massive understatement! She's got a very big load on her shoulders for the next few months.
If you're able, please click over to their fundraiser and help the family with even a small amount. Every little helps.
May James rest in God's peace, and may his sins be forgiven him.
Peter
A few days ago I asked readers to support two friends, James and Tirzah Burns, as James struggles with very serious illness. Thank you to all who responded.
One respondent, Boron, said this in a comment.
It tears at my heart not to be able to be as free with my money (provide to those in need) as I had been was while I was workng.
Whatever money I've put away; we need it most now that I'm retired with disabilities.
The pennies that have fallen through the cracks we use to provide the little extras for our children, particularly in these times.
The remainder we're putting aside for our grandchildren's education.
It is all the more painful for me as a Jew aware of my obligations: tzedakah and more particularly, gemilut chasadim.
The more important question of course, invades my conscience: "Do I take the crumbs from my childrens' mouths to feed a stranger?"
I often wonder what will be my answer to Him.
I've had some long discussions with friends and acquaintances about giving to others; when it is (or perhaps is not) appropriate, how much one can/should give in relation to what one has or earns, deciding who or what causes deserve our contribution and which do not, and all that sort of thing. It's been interesting to develop a way of looking at giving that isn't bound to any one religious faith or secular philosophy, but rather to the simple fact of living as a human being. Here's how I look at it.
I begin by acknowledging the many times I've needed help - and not only economically, either: emotional support, advice, encouragement, all are "help". From there, it follows logically that if I have needed help, I should be prepared to offer help to those who need it, because they are human beings, too. The nature, kind and amount of that help are, of course, open to discussion. For example, I won't help an alcoholic or drug addict buy more of the poisons that feed their addiction, and I won't give them money to buy those things for themselves. I will, however, buy them food, and help them get to a place where they can get the physical, mental and spiritual help they need to change their lives (e.g. the Salvation Army).
There are those who object that by refusing to help them do what they want to do, I'm in effect judging them, forcing them into moral or ethical compartments with which they might not agree. I guess that's right - but by not exercising judgment, by helping them continue with their self-destructive behavior, I would be contributing to the inevitable end of such moral laissez-faire: their demise. I won't accept such co-responsibility; I can't, due to my own moral code. If that doesn't satisfy some critics, well, I'm sorry about that. They can help in whatever way seems good to them, and I'll do likewise.
What worries me more than such questions is the number of people today who seem to regard it as a weakness to support anyone. What's theirs is theirs, and they don't see why they should share it, particularly if they might have to delay or postpone something they want in order to spend their money, or time, or talents on someone else's need. The concept of giving as a duty, as a way of life, seems foreign to them. That stands in stark contrast to the unknown sage who said:
“I expect to pass through this world but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing that I can do, to any fellow human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it; for I will not pass this way again.”
All those points, of course, can be made irrespective of any religious background. To a Christian, the Bible is filled with admonitions and encouragements to give what one has to help those who have not, and to support one another in the trials and tribulations of life. Many regard those obligations as fulfilled by contributing to the collection in church on Sunday. Fortunately, many more go further than that.
My own personal approach to giving starts by thanking God for the many blessings I've been given, some without requests to others, others as a result of asking for help (the most recent example of which being my bleg for help with medical bills last month). That leads to a direct corollary: if I hope and expect to receive help when I need it, I must be ready and willing to offer help when others need it. It's like two halves of the same coin. I may not be able to offer as much as another person needs, or the precise form of help they need, but I'll get as close to it as I can. My wife and I don't "tithe" as such; we rather say that our money is there to meet our needs and those that the good Lord puts in our path. Some months we may give very little to others. Other months we may donate a lot more than a tithe. It all depends what needs present themselves, whether or not we feel led to respond, and our current ability to do so. However, it's a fundamental rule for us that we should always be willing to respond as best we can. If we try to hold on to everything we have, why should we expect others to be any different?
It's also true, of course, that we can't possibly meet most of the needs around us. We're not rich, and are unlikely ever to be so. Therefore, we donate according to what is practical and possible for us, and trust the good Lord to make up that which we cannot.
A final thought. I think we would all do well to develop a "mindset of giving". This is where we look around us, at people and activities close to us, and ask how we can contribute. There may be nobody needing help with hospital bills, or trying to rebuild their home after a fire; but our local small-town library may need funds raised, or our old folks' center wants money to upgrade their facility. A few dollars from enough people can help them a lot. If we actively look to pick just one project or need each month, and support it with a few dollars or a couple of hours of work, that's a start. It puts us in the right mind-set to recognize larger needs when they arrive, and be willing to consider helping to meet them. We don't just dismiss them out of hand, or casually disregard them. If we all did that, I think a lot more of us would be willing to help out in all sorts of ways that we currently don't think about.
Hope I didn't bore you with this diversion into the weeds. I just thought Boron's point, and similar comments made by a couple of other readers, deserved further attention. I'll be interested to read your own perspective(s) in Comments.
Peter
Tirzah and James Burns are close friends of my wife and myself. If I recall correctly, we met Tirzah even before she met James. I officiated at their wedding in 2013, and baptized their son and daughter a few years later at Libertycon in Chattanooga, where they live.
James has developed severe problems with his pancreas, to the point that a few weeks ago, doctors weren't certain whether he'd be able to survive them. They've managed to get things back into some sort of balance, but there's a long way still to go. Meanwhile, of course, James' income has dried up. We and other friends have helped as best we can, but more is needed.
Oleg Volk, also a long-standing friend of the Burns, has therefore started a fundraiser for their medical and other expenses. May I ask you to help the Burns family in their great need? They're very good people, and are beloved of Dot and I. Thanks in advance.
Peter
A friend asked me this morning what my primary emotional state was at present. Was it about the pain from my surgery, which is still quite intense? Was it depression at not being able to do so many things I'd taken for granted? Was it not being able to help my wife with routine housework? After thinking about it for a while, I surprised him - and myself, for that matter - by realizing that my overwhelming feeling right now is gratitude.
I'm very grateful that I live in a country where access to top-quality health care is feasible, so long as one has the necessary financial resources to pay for it: and, even if one doesn't, very often a plan can be made to sponsor treatment or offset the costs in some other way. There are large parts of the world (including many in my old Third World stamping grounds) where this sort of treatment, for this sort of problem, simply would not be an option, and I'd be very unlikely to be able to get the necessary visas and funding to pay for it elsewhere.
I'm profoundly grateful for the generosity of my friends and readers, people like you. I genuinely didn't think there'd be enough support to achieve my fundraising target of $50,000, but you came through like champions, and we reached it within eight days. That's a very humbling thought, that so many of you were prepared to dig deep into your own pockets for little old me.
I'm also grateful that we have financial institutions who are prepared to risk their money on someone who's built up a good credit record. My wife and I had planned to finance this surgery and subsequent operations in three ways. A third would come from a fund-raiser (we hoped); a third would come from a second mortgage on our home; and a third would come from our existing assets - savings, investments, part of my gun collection, etc. - that we could cash out for this purpose. The second mortgage took a while to arrange, and the interest rate is higher than we hoped to pay, but it came through a week before the surgery. Its proceeds, along with those from our fundraiser, are now lodged safely in savings accounts, ready for use whenever we need them.
Not least, I'm grateful that so many of our local friends have shown willing to come by, visit with us, make sure we're OK and have everything we need, cook meals so that we don't have to prepare them ourselves, and so on. They're all busy people, and we know we're an added burden on their time at present, but they've stepped up to the plate like champions.
So, you see, the pain (intrusive and unwanted as it is), depression and other negatives are simply unimportant compared to the many blessings we've been given. My wife and I can only look around us and shake our heads in disbelief at how good God and our friends have been to us. It renews in us a determination to be equally good neighbors to others as and when the need arises. Our present situation would be a lot harder to deal with without such help.
It's also a helpful reminder to all of us to invest in our relationships during times when it's relatively easy to do so. We've built up a very warm, friendly little network in north Texas, perhaps a couple of dozen people in all spread over several hundred square miles, and many of us have taken advantage of those friendships in the past. Long may they be there for all of us! If you haven't been fortunate enough to have built up such a network in the past, perhaps now would be a very good time to begin, so that when the need arises, it - and they - will be there for you, and vice versa.
So, yet again, thanks, dear friends. We couldn't do this without you, and we remain very grateful to you all. God bless.
Peter
Daddybear, also known as our online and meatspace buddy Tom Rogneby, has published a helpful guide to washing your Labrador retriever. It's packed full of helpful advice. For example:
2. Barricade the gate to the deck stairs. This is crucial. It is amazing how agile a 13 year old lab is when he doesn’t want to do something, and he’ll do a stutter step that will bring a tear to Jerry Rice’s eye and squirt right past you and down into the mud puddle that is your back yard.
6. Get your hose and start soaking the lab as best you can. Labs have, on average, 13.72 separate layers of fur, so this is going to take a bit.
- Side note – Labrador Retrievers, as a breed, were created for fishing and duck hunting, both of which require the dog to plunge into icy cold water. It can surprise the new dog washer to learn that labs can have that sort of fortitude, but are absolutely against the idea of cold hose water being applied to their person.
8. Once the wet dog is thoroughly coated in suds, get your hands into a ‘claw’ configuration and proceed to scrub the everliving whey out of that hound’s fur. You’re trying to scrub soap down into all of those layers of hair, so you might have to be a bit more aggressive. Take frequent breaks to flip handfuls of sudsy fur into the yard. The pile you make will survive several thunderstorms, but will be prized by the local gopher population as they soundproof their latest tunnel under your air conditioning unit.
- A side benefit to this activity is that it gets in your cardio for the day. Not only will you be bent over, vigorously moving your upper extremities repeatedly, but you’ll also be wrestling with a sopping wet dog that thinks you’re playing with him. At some point in this process, there will likely be as much suds on you as there is on the dog.
There's much more at the link.
Having grown up with a golden Labrador retriever, and owned another one during my last years in South Africa, I can attest to the truth of Tom's testimony. Both dogs would happily run and play in the surf at the beach, or in a stream in the mountains, or even run outside in heavy rain - but if you so much as reached for a bucket, their warning antennae kicked in, and they'd do a Houdini every time you tried to corral them for washing.
The only dog I knew who really liked being washed was a huge cross between a St. Bernard and another big breed, possibly a Great Dane. He weighed 140 pounds, and his shoulders were at waist height on even tall men. He had some sort of irritating skin condition, which plagued him particularly in the summer months; so if you appeared with a bucket, shampoo and a hosepipe, he'd eagerly run to meet you and submit to your ministrations with every sign of pleasure. A dog that big sure gave us a run for our money to get him clean.
Peter
My wife and I have been friends with Jason and Amanda Fuesting for a long time. Amanda has been trying to become pregnant after many health and other issues, including artificial insemination, but nothing has worked. She's also just learned that there's a "suspicious" growth that may involve cancer: she's undergoing a biopsy today to find out what it is.
All those medical issues have left the Fuestings with some top-heavy medical bills. We're contributing to help them, because they're very good people who deserve it (quite apart from the fact that we both like them!). I'll be very grateful if you, dear readers, will consider helping them as well. They have a GiveSendGo fund-raiser: click over there to make your donation. Every little helps!
I think, in today's economic circumstances, we're all likely at some time to need our friends to make it over hurdles like these. The Golden Rule applies: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". If we hope to receive help when we need it, it's incumbent on us to help others when they need it. I hope that together, we can get Jason and Amanda over this financial hump, and back to normal.
Thanks for your help.
Peter
Today sees the start of our annual invitation-only Foolzcon, named initially because it was held as close as possible to April Fools Day. Old NFO began it several years ago, and it's grown into a long weekend filled with friends, food and frolics. We generally have a lot of fun together.
We'll have two houseguests over Foolzcon, plus our own participation in the festivities, so blogging will be light until Monday. I'll try to put up a post here and there, but they may appear at unusual times for me. It all depends on what we're doing, and where and with whom we're doing it. If you get bored, amuse yourselves with the blogs listed in the sidebar.
Peter
Courtesy of author and friend Michael Z. Williamson, I learned of a fundraiser by Keith DeCandido and Shoshana Edwards to help pay for some really nasty medical bills. They write:
Shoshana Edwards, the author of the Harper's Landing series (Easy as Pie, Madness of Trees, Death Lives in the Water, Deathly Waters, The Secrets of Water), as well as a veteran of the Society for Creative Anachronism and a superlative quilter, is struggling at the moment. She has many medical bills and a business deal that would have enabled her to sell books has fallen through, leaving her with a big pile of science fiction & fantasy books taking up a great deal of space. Unfortunately, doctors don't take books for payment....
Therefore Shoshana -- who is one of the nicest, sweetest, most generous people you'd ever want to meet -- is asking for help, not just to help pay the bills, but also to clear out all these dang books. When you make your donation, if you take a screenshot of it and send it to shoshana at whysper dot net, along with your mailing address, you may find yourself with a book!
There's more at the link.
Friends, I know how crushing medical bills can be. Last year I underwent no less than four surgical procedures to try to deal with kidney issues. They didn't work, unfortunately, and my kidney will have to be removed later this year. However, even though the procedures didn't work, my wife and I still had to pay for our share of their cost, and that was a real problem - until a very generous reader, unasked, offered us a donation that helped pay them off. We'll be forever grateful for his help. Now another writer needs the same sort of help, and we think it's a sort of "paying it forward" to ask for you to help her in her turn. We've already made our donation.
If you feel so inclined, particularly if you've had to face medical bills that threaten to submerge you (financially speaking), please click over to the fundraiser and offer what you can. Also, whether you can help or not, how about mentioning the fundraiser on your social media accounts, to spread the word? What goes around, comes around, and we all may need such help one day. My wife and I have learned the hard way, on far too many occasions to count them, that if we help others, we will be helped in our turn, as the Good Book promises. It's a spiritually and mentally healthy way to live, IMHO.
Thanks in advance.
Peter
Regular readers will have seen mention of Killer Bees Honey in these pages on several occasions. They produce what I believe may be the finest honey in North America. The "beekeeper", Sean, is an online friend of many years' standing.
The apiary is in the the Pisgah National Forest area of North Carolina, and took a pounding from Hurricane Helene last week. Here's Sean's after action report to his friends, shared on this blog with his permission.
Things are slowly returning to normal here. Food is coming back onto the grocery store shelves, but it’s still cash only for some. Banks are still limiting withdrawals of $1k.
As I wrote the below, I continually thought about your dealings with Katrina.
Sean
******************************************************************
Like all good horror stories involving a demonic woman, it began in the darkness of night. I awoke Friday at 0230 and watched as the metal patio furniture, sans cushions traveled S/B past the bedroom windows. My drowsy WTF reaction was mirrored by the cats WTF stare. The whole house generator had already kicked on. Ten minutes later and with a head lamp piercing the driving rain, I was in the lower bee yard placing heavier rocks on the hives. When I was done, Helene’s 55 knot gusts were pushing the hives off their foundation. Luckily, each hive had around 65 pounds of stored winter honey. I’m sure that’s what kept them from being blown over. I could not say the same for me as I had to get on my hands and knees with each blast of wind. Retreating back to the safety of the house, I could hear trees falling, some snapping in half deep in the forest around me. No bueno. All I could now do is start the coffee maker and wait for dawn. First light came with continued howling winds and rain. A sourwood tree narrowly missed the house and was laying across the pad in front of the kitchen window. Its leaf laden boughs frantically waving to me in distress with each shock of wind.Too dangerous to step outside, I went downstairs to the mechanical room to begin the quick process of charging up the battery bank.
Since then it’s been a total shit show in WNC. I celebrated my 69th birthday chainsawing my way down our mile long driveway. Two days, several naps and six bar chains later, the driveway was passable. This can’t be said for adjacent mountain roads. The 26” of rain washed out or made local roads and bridges impassable. I jumped into the Polaris Ranger once I cleared the driveway and drove the four miles to the main road. What I saw can only be described as post apocalyptic. Neighbors working chainsaws clearing roads and driveways. Head on collisions of trees into houses. Many homes were uninhabitable. Peaceful creeks and flowing water rock falls turned into churning rivers and torrential waterfalls. Bridges and damns were breached. Duke power was releasing water from lakes causing more destruction, but they had no choice; a damn failure would have been more disastrous.
The ham radio community immediately initiated an emergency net. Numerous surrounding repeaters were connected and a call went out for volunteers, SAR and swift water rescue crews. This was the only way to communicate for four days. People from all over the world were using their HF stations to contact net control for welfare checks on loved ones or family members. Net control then used UHF and VHF frequencies to contact local ham operators. They in turn left the safety of their homes to brave dangerous conditions. Some had to abandon their cars and hike into hazardous conditions. It was heartbreaking to hear one station report back on a welfare check of an isolated elderly couple's home located deep in a holler. He radioed that all he found was a driveway at the end of which was a raging river.
I was on generator and battery b/u power for nearly five days. There was no damage to the hives and out buildings. AVL was closed to all traffic for four days. Denise was in Chicago, but I was able to pick her up when HWY 64 and the airport reopened. My immediate neighbors, a young family of five had no power. I gave them a five gallon water bladder, a daily thermos of coffee, venison and a Honda 2200 generator along with a jerry can of gas to keep the fridge and essentials powered. They came up to the house to eat and shower, but left last Wednesday to be with relatives in Raleigh.
We now have grid power and cellular. WISP (internet) is spotty.
Intial Impact
Massive flooding and wind destruction. Total devastation. No power. No cellular. No internet. No water. Land lines were down. Everything was closed. Many towns and communities were literally swept away. Chimney Rock, Swannanoa no longer exist. Boone and half of Asheville were inundated with water. Interstates 40, 26 and HWY 64 were impassable. The geography was literally changed by the flood. I don’t know how some roads, businesses and homes can be rebuilt. Many deaths; a community near the French Broad river in Hendersonville was told to evacuate at the beginning of the storm. Some stayed. Two days later, several bodies were found hanging out of windows and trees. Five were found in a debris field a mile away. Around 250 water plants were destroyed or inundated with muddy water and won’t be operational for weeks if not months. Within 24 hours 37 private helicopters were air dropping food and water to isolated communities. FEMA was non existent.It was private citizens and small businesses helping each other.
Presently
230 deaths and rising. Nearly 1000 still missing. I was talking to a local Sheriff’s Lt who said they’ll be pulling bodies out of debris fields through the holidays. 50% of homes in the county are still without power. Most roads leading into town are clear. Interstate 40 at the TN border will remain closed for approximately a year during repair. 26 now has passable lanes, but will need repair. Hwy 9 leading into Chimney Rock is non existent. Hwy 19 leading into Asheville is severely damaged and unusable. All national and state parks are closed due to immense tree falls and trail damage. The Blue Ridge Parkway and all buildings along the Pkw are closed. The nearest town to us is Brevard which now has power. Prior to that, the local grocery stores were open for two days after the event, but it was cash only. I understand they closed soon thereafter because they were cleaned out. Propane is still in short supply. Gas stations which have power have no 93% and are limiting gas to ten gallons per vehicle. There isn’t any non ethanol gas. Lines for gas go for 100’s of yards. Portable generators along with chainsaws and 2 stroke fuel are sold out. Nightly looting around Asheville. The Ingles (grocery) warehouse and Walmart were looted within 24 hours of the storm. Cash only stores and gas stations are causing a run on the banks. As a result, customers are only aloud $1K cash withdrawals. Essentials such as food, water, diapers and baby formula are currently being distributed at churches and community centers by local citizens. What people need isn’t FEMA’s $750. They need food and water. It’s been eight days and some isolated communities are literally going hungry. Good Samaritans, some from out of state trying to reach those in need are being held up at gun point for supplies. There is fear among health professionals of dysentery caused by lack of clean water and unsanitary conditions.
I read there is a loss of some 60,000 bee hives in the Southeast. There may be greater losses if beekeepers can’t get to the remaining hives and feed them sugar water. My bees are good; they keep their first 65 pounds of spring wildflower honey for the winter.
There were multiple episodes of civil unrest and violence. A dude in Brevard shot out the tires of someone else cutting into a gas line. A fist fight broke out near the local credit union. My bee out yard is near a sketchy neighborhood. Apparently, some local meth heads broke into a home thinking the owners had split. Nope. The husband comes out of the bedroom busting caps from a 357 revolver… we’re old school up here. Said meth heads retreated to their vehicle and returned fire. Husbands wife opens the bedroom window and throws down with a full mag from an AR-10. The next morning nothing was found other than broken glass and some blood. The sheriff’s dept. never responded because no one called (no phones) Like I said, old school.
For further information, I urge you to read the below link regarding Helene’s impact written by an eloquent local writer for USA Today:
Opinion: Helene devastated my NC community. What I saw next helped me survive.
My Preps
My wife and I live in the Lake Toxaway zip code area, but not in the HOA. We have 75 acres on the apex of Walnut Cove Mountain. Our driveway is exactly one mile long. We are surrounded by 512,000 acres of the Pisgah National Forest and game lands which is adjacent to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park and Nantahala Wilderness. We are very isolated from the rest of the world which is fine by me. Most of my prep education came from being a LEO out of Southern California. I was an active participant in earthquakes, wildfires and riots. Until recently, I was a certified AEMT and SAR member. Presently, I am a beekeeper, a full time house bitch and part time sex slave. Titles I proudly embrace. I hunt deer, wild turkey and bear off my property. My wife, Denise is a retired CFO of a company in NYC. She is an anti gun liberal who happens to know the benefits of capitalism. Go figure.
All our preps worked out amazingly well and without issues. From the initial storm to grid up, all I missed were fresh bananas. First world problem.
Power: We are grid tied with 21 roof mounted solar panels producing 7kW midday. Energy we don’t use from the PV system is stored in a Sonnen Battery 18kW system. During grid down situations, which happens a lot up here, A 30kW, water cooled, Generac powers the entire house. Combined with a buried 1000 gallon propane tank, I can live off grid indefinitely. The Generac was utilized just three hours a day to charge the batteries until I had full sun. Afterwards, everything was powered by stored solar energy.
Water: We are on a well and septic system. The well is powered by both the grid or generator and PV array/Sonnen system.
Food: I have three freezers filled with wild game. Most I give away to my sister’s in law who are also anti gun liberals, but will take wild meat killed with my guns. Again, go figure. Besides the wild game, we have two walk in pantries filled with supplies for immediate use. I have other food supplies for the real ZA. Bags and cans of food for the Children of Satan (cats).
Cooking: Propane stove top. Electric range. Outside propane grill with multiple tanks.
Fuel: I have several caddies filled with 93 [octane] non ethanol gas treated with Startron. We have several vehicles including a UTV and ATV. Both with winches and other accessories to make them more functional for our mountainous property. We have not been to a gas station since Sept 26.
Security. Multiple overlapping surveillance systems one on a local server (not dependent on WiFi or cellular)
I have preps specific for such events and had the chainsaws gassed and ready. All vehicles were gassed up and garaged. Speaking of preps, it’s a bit ironic that Sept was “preparedness month” and the national prepper conference in nearby Sylva was washed away. Both emails I received two Thursdays ago saying it was definitely on was not only irresponsible, but dangerous. Stupid decisions lead to stupid results.
Fall back: A separate fully functional building with a Jotul wood stove, running water and stored cots with sleeping bags.
Fall back #2: A sprinter 170 chassis van converted by Outside Vans in OR. It has 45 gallons of diesel fuel, 20 gallons of fresh water and 630 amp hours of lithium ion batteries with solar. The van has a Guzzle H20 which can purify more water (we have 3500 linear feet of spring fed streams on the property).
Hope everyone is well.
Sounds like Sean and his wife had quite a time of it. Good to know you're both safe, buddy, along with your bees! Thanks for the great after-action report and feedback. We'll all learn from it.
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: Take note of the "cash only" nature of business after the storm. This happens very often when power and/or communications are knocked out. If you haven't got an emergency cash reserve at home, this can leave you stranded, particularly if banks aren't open for any reason.
Killer Bees Honey is currently donating all profits from honey and merchandise sales to local hurricane recovery efforts. If you'd like to support them, please do - and enjoy the honey! They haven't yet updated their Web site to reflect that, because Web access is extremely difficult for them right now; but that'll happen soon, I'm sure.
Peter
My wife and I had a very pleasant four-day trip around West Texas, visiting friends, learning things (that will inform future books), and generally relaxing from a hectic few recent weeks. Some highlights:
Peter
Recently, in e-conversation with a friend, I learned he'd never heard of (much less watched) the 1965 comedy Western, "The Hallelujah Trail". Starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick and an almost unrecognizable Donald Pleasance as a drunken visionary miner, it's a hoot! I've watched it several times, and enjoyed it on each occasion.
It occurred to me that some of my readers may also have missed it: so here's the full movie, which for some reason is available on YouTube without restriction. Don't worry about the blacked-out bits; they're a music interlude to let audiences take their seats. It's a long film (about 2¾ hours), but I think you'll find it worthwhile. Enjoy!
I wish they still made movies for entertainment, rather than shock value and "woke" anti-values . . .
Peter
A number of you clicked over to Killer Bees Honey to buy some for yourselves, but were frustrated because they soon ran out of available honey. I had a few complaints via Comments and e-mail. However, there's good news. They've now processed this summer's Sourwood honey harvest, and also managed to find a couple more "supers" of wildflower honey. Both are now available in their shop, the latter restricted to one bottle per purchaser, the Sourwood without limitation. They're expensive, but it's probably the best honey in north America (at least to my palate), so you pays for what you gets. Shipping is free for orders of two or more bottles.
I'm not being compensated in any way by Killer Bees Honey for boosting them here, not even with free product. The apiary is run by someone I've known online and (more recently) in meatspace for years, and I like to help my friends: and I certainly like to point my readers in the direction of good things. Highly recommended.
Peter
Out of the blue, an unexpected package arrived yesterday from Killer Bees Honey, whom I first mentioned on this blog back in 2016. Their bees (or "ladies", as the beekeeper refers to them) produce what may be the finest, best-tasting honey in the USA - and I don't say that lightly. It's remarkable stuff.
To my anonymous benefactor: thanks a ton! It was a wonderful and very thoughtful gift. To the rest of my readers: if you haven't tried Killer Bees Honey for yourself, you truly don't know what you're missing. It is, quite literally, the best honey I've ever tasted. I may possibly meet a honey that's their equal, but I don't expect to ever find one better than these. Award yourself a taste "fix"!
(No, I'm not being compensated in any way to advertise Killer Bees Honey. A friend founded it, and I first mentioned it here to give him a boost. After tasting it, my wife and I have ordered from them every year. It's not cheap, but it's the best! We visited them in 2019, and hope to do so again if we're ever in the area.)
Peter
Thank you all for your kind wishes as I recover from surgery. Some of the comments about catheters, etc. reminded me of an incident with a friend that still makes me laugh whenever I think about it.
He had some sort of bladder problem that required him to be fitted with a catheter and a urine bag. So far, so good . . . until the first morning after he returned home. His twin daughters, aged about 5 or 6 at the time, came running into the bedroom and jumped on the bed to be with Mom and Dad - and one of them landed right on his (full) urine bag.
His comment: "Have you ever tried to pee backwards? It sheds a new and horrible light on the human condition!"
I had to sympathize, even while laughing my tochus off at his predicament!
Peter
This weekend a number of friends of the North Texas Troublemakers (of which my wife and I are members, too) are gathering at our annual invitation-only "Foolzcon" to have fun, eat too much, and generally kick back and relax together. It's normally held nearer April Fool's Day (hence the name), but this year other events intervened, so we pushed it back a few weeks.
We're going to be involved in the fun and games, and we have house guests who've come here to join us, so I won't be putting up blog posts this weekend. Normal service will be resumed on Monday. Meanwhile, enjoy yourselves with the bloggers in the sidebar. They write good, too!
Peter
Today, just because I feel like it, let's revisit a piece we've heard more than once on this blog over the past decade and a half. It's Rodrigo's "Fantasía para un Gentilhombre", or "Fantasy for a Gentleman". It's one of his most popular compositions. Wikipedia says of it:
The four movements were based on six short dances for solo guitar by the 17th-century Spanish composer Gaspar Sanz and were taken from a three-volume work (1674, 1675, 1697) that is now commonly known as Instrucción de música sobre la guitarra española (Musical Instruction on the Spanish Guitar) (Donis 2005:75). Most of the movements retain the names that were originally given by Sanz.
Rodrigo composed the concerto in 1954 at the request of the guitarist Andrés Segovia, who was evidently the gentilhombre referenced in the title. Segovia took the solo part at the premiere performance on March 5, 1958, in San Francisco.
There's more at the link.
I'm putting it up again not only because it's one of my favorite pieces of classical guitar music, but in memory of my friend Inyati, who died at about this time of year fourteen years ago. He's been on my mind lately, and he also loved this piece, so here goes. Segovia is the soloist in this performance; since it was written for him, I reckon he's probably the premier interpreter of it in concert.
Peter
